Category Chemistry

               Terbium is a silvery-white element, which is malleable and so soft that it can be cut with a knife.

               It is named after the Swedish village of Ytterby, where the first sample of the element was found.

               In 1843, Swedish chemist Carl Gustaf Mosander separated the mineral gadolinite into three materials, which he called yttria, erbia and terbia. From two of these substances, he discovered erbium and terbium. Erbium and two other elements namely ytterbium and yttrium are also named after Ytterby. Although terbium is relatively stable in the air, it reacts with water when exposed to it. It’s used in x-ray imaging screens and CDs. Terbium has the atomic number 65, and is represented as Tb.

               Dysprosium is a soft silvery metal. The element was discovered in 1886 by Paul-Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, a French chemist, but he was not able to isolate it. It was not isolated until 1950, when Canadian scientist Frank Spedding and his team developed ion-exchange separation and metallographic reduction techniques.

               Dysprosium is not currently used for a wide range of applications except when there is no other alternative. The atomic number of dysprosium is 66, and the symbol is Dy.

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               You do not have to think too much to realize how europium got its name. It is named after the continent Europe.

               Europium is silvery white in colour. However, since the element reacts with air, it is rarely seen without dis-colouration. It can be easily moulded or shaped, and is about as hard as lead. The French chemist, Eugene-Anatole Demarcay, is credited with the discovery of the element as it was he who ultimately produced a relatively pure form of europium in 1901. Although humans had been using this element and had known of its existence, it took many years for man to isolate the element properly.

               Europium can be found in the ores bastnasite and monazite. The element has also been identified in the sun, and some other stars. The atomic number of europium is 63, and it is represented as Eu.

               Gadolinium is also silvery white in colour in its pure form. It is named after the mineral gadolinite, one of the minerals in which gadolinium is found. It is a malleable and ductile element. Its magnetic properties allow it to be tracked through the human body; and therefore, it is used for magnetic resonance imaging in medical diagnosis. The atomic number of gadolinium is 64, and the symbol is Gd.

               Vassili Samarsky-Bykhovets, a Russian mining engineer, was instrumental in the discovery of a particular mineral which was named ‘samarskite’ after his own name. Our element, samarium, was first extracted from this mineral, and thus, is named after it. Samarsky-Bykhovets may be the first person to be the namesake of an element, although indirectly.

               Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, a French chemist, discovered the element in 1879. The element is moderately hard and greyish white in colour. It is fairly stable in the air and has a bright silver sheen. Samarium is found in many minerals, including monazite and bastnasite, which are commercially desirable sources. While samarium has not been isolated in its pure form until recently, mischmetal, an alloy mix containing about 1 per cent of samarium metal, has been in use for a long time.

               Samarium forms a compound with cobalt and this alloy is a powerful permanent magnet. It has the highest resistance to demagnetization of any known material. The element is used as a neutron absorber in nuclear reactors and in infrared absorbing glass.

               The atomic number of samarium is 62, and it is represented as Sm.

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            Prometheus is a legendary Greek hero. He is known as a trickster because he defied the gods and stole fire from them to give it to Man. Promethium is named after Prometheus. The reason is that the element glows in the dark like the fire of Prometheus!

            The discovery of the element was the result of the hard work of four scientists: Charles D. Coryell, Jacob A. Marinsky, Lawrence E. Glendenin, and Harold G. Richter. They were trying to create fuel for an atomic bomb. The first identification and separation of element happened in 1945. They were able to extract promethium-147, an isotope of the element, from the by-products of uranium fission.

            The element had been discovered, in the spectrum of HR 465, a star in a constellation called Andromedae, which lies 520 light-years away from us.

           The glow-in-the-dark promethium is a highly radioactive element. The element is not easily found anywhere on Earth. Due to its rarity, the element is primarily used for research. However, scientists look at it as an element with a variety of possibilities. It could be used in medical devices, batteries, and in luminescent paint. The atomic number of promethium is 61, and it is represented as Pm.

                Like twins, these two elements were born together! Carl Auer von Welsbach, an Austrian scientist, discovered neodymium and praseodymium at the same time. He separated the elements from a substance called didymium in 1885.

               Praseodymium can be found in a variety of minerals. Larger quantities of the element are found in monazite and bastnasite. Praseodymium is commonly used as an alloying agent with magnesium to create high strength metals used in aircraft engines. The atomic number of praseodymium is 59, and the element is represented as Pr.

               Neodymium is a soft and silvery metal. The element easily reacts with the air. Its uses are manifold. Neodymium’s chief use is as a reddish-purple pigment for glass and ceramics. It is also used in cryocoolers that regulate heat in experiments with metals. Neodymium is an important element in certain fertilizers. The element, when alloyed with iron and boron, produces the strongest permanent magnets known to exist.

              Neodymium has the atomic number 60 and it is represented as Nd.

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               There are three scientists who are credited with the discovery of the element cerium. While Swedish chemists Jons Jacob Berzelius and Wilhelm Hisinger discovered the element in Sweden, Martin Heinrich Klaproth, a German scientist, discovered it in his mother country. Both these discoveries were done independently of each other, in the year 1803.

               Cerium is named after the asteroid Ceres, a dwarf planet, which was discovered in 1801. The planet’s name derives from the Roman goddess of agriculture. Cerium is one abundant element.

               Cerium is a grey silvery-white metal. It decomposes slowly in cold water, and very rapidly in hot water. It is found in several minerals including allanite or orthrite, monazite, bastnasite, cerite and samarskite. Large deposits of cerium have been found in India, Brazil and in Southern California.

               Cerium burns when heated and is used in self-cleaning ovens. The film and television industry extensively uses it in carbon-arc lighting technology for studio lighting and projector lights.

               The atomic number of cerium is 58, and the atomic symbol is Ce.