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December 15, 2010

Rare Earth’s – Thulium

Filed under: Chemistry — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — David @ 9:35 am

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Thulium, Tm, atomic number 69.

Thulium is the least abundant of the rare earth elements. It is named after the mythical land of Thule. Thule also manufacture roof boxes but I am assured that they are not made out of the element!  :mrgreen:

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December 13, 2010

Rare Earth’s – Erbium

Filed under: Chemistry — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — David @ 8:57 am

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Erbium, Er, atomic number 68.

Erbium’s name came from its discovery along with Yttrium by Mosander in 1843.

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December 9, 2010

Rare Earth’s – Holmium

Filed under: Chemistry — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — David @ 12:10 pm

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Holmium, Ho, atomic number 67.

Discovered in 1878 by Delafontaine and Soret. Holmium is the Latin name for Stockholm. As you are probably realising, much work on the rare earth’s was carried out in Scandinavia.

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December 8, 2010

Rare Earth’s – Dysprosium

Filed under: Chemistry — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — David @ 11:06 am

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Dysprosium, Dy, atomic number 66

Dysprosium was first identified in 1886 by Boisboudran but it too another 65 years to obtain it in its pure form.

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December 3, 2010

Rare Earth’s – Europium

Filed under: Chemistry — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — David @ 4:27 pm

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Europium, symbol Eu, atomic mass 63.

Europium is a super conductor at around 2K. It is used interestingly to screen for genetic disorders such as Down’s syndrome. It is also being considered to be used in nuclear reactors as it is a very good neutron absorber (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europium – accessed on 3rd Dec 2010).

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December 2, 2010

Rare Earth’s – Samarium

Filed under: Chemistry — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — David @ 11:29 am

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Samarium, Sm, atomic number 62.

Discovered in 1853 by Marignac.

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November 22, 2010

The Rare Earths – Praeseodymium

Filed under: Chemistry — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , — David @ 9:50 am

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Praeseodymium, symbol Pr, atomic number 59.

Perhaps the most unusually named element in the periodic table.

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