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Lanthanides - Real-Life Applications
Lanthanides - Real-Life Applications
Early Lanthanides
CERIUM.
In 1751, Swedish chemist Axel Crnstedt (1722-1765) described what he thought was a new
form of tungsten, which he had found at the Bastns Mine near Riddarhyttan, Sweden. Later,
German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth (1743-1817) and Swedish chemist Wilhelm
Hisinger (1766-1852) independently analyzed the material Crnstedt had discovered, and
both concluded that this must be a new element. It was named cerium in honor of Ceres,
an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter discovered in 1801. Not until 1875 was cerium actually
extracted from an ore.
Among the applications for cerium is an alloy called misch metal, prepared by fusing the
chlorides of cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, and praseodymium. The resulting alloy ignites
at or below room temperature, and is often used as the "flint" in a cigarette lighter, because it
sparks when friction from a metal wheel is applied.
Cerium is also used in jet engine parts, as a catalyst in making ammonia, and as an anti-knock
agent in gasolinethat is, a chemical that reduces the "knocking" sounds sometimes
produced in an engine by inferior grades of fuel. In cerium (IV) oxide, or CeO 2 , it is used to
extract the color from formerly colored glass, and is also applied in enamel and ceramic
coatings.
GADOLINIUM.
In 1794, seven years after the discovery of ytterite, Finnish chemist Johan Gadolin (1760-
1852) concluded that ytterite contained a new element, which was later named gadolinite in
his honor. A very similar name would be applied to an element extracted from ytterite, and
the years between Gadolin's discovery and the identification of this element spanned the
period of the most fruitful activity in lanthanide identification.
During the next century, all the other lanthanides were discovered within the composition of
gadolinite; then, in 1880, Swiss chemist Jean-Charles Galissard de Marignac (1817-1894)
found yet another element hiding in it. French chemist Paul Emile Lecoq de
Boisbaudran (1838-1912) rediscovered the same element six years later, and proposed that it
be called gadolinium.
Silvery in color, but with a sometimes yellowish cast, gadolinium has a high tendency to
oxidize in dry air. Because it is highly efficient for capturing neutrons, it could be useful in
nuclear power reactors. However, two of its seven isotopes are in such low abundance that it
has had little nuclear application. Used in phosphors for color television sets, among other
things, gadolinium shows some promise for ultra hightech applications: at very low
temperatures it becomes highly magnetic, and may function as a superconductor.
Mosander's Lanthanides
LANTHANUM.
Between 1839 and 1848, Mosander was consumed with extracting various lanthanides from
ytterite, which by then had come to be known as gadolinite. When he first succeeded in
extracting an element, he named it lanthana, meaning "hidden." The material, eventually
referred to as lanthanum, was not prepared in pure form until 1923.
Like a number of other lanthanides, lanthanum is very softso soft it can be cut with a
knifeand silvery-white in color. Among the most reactive of the lanthanides, it decomposes
rapidly in hot water, but more slowly in cold water. Lanthanum also reacts readily with
oxygen, and corrodes quickly in moist air.
As with cerium, lanthanum is used in misch metal. Because lanthanum compounds bring
about special optical qualities in glass, it also used for the manufacture of specialized lenses.
In addition, compounds of lanthanum with fluorine or oxygen are used in making carbon-arc
lamps for the motion picture industry.
SAMARIUM.
While analyzing an oxide formed from lanthanide in 1841, Mosander decided that he had a
new element on his hands, which he called didymium. Four decades later, Boisbaudran took
another look at didynium, and concluded that it was not an element; rather, it contained an
element, which he named samarium after the mineral samarskite, in which it is found. Still
later, Marignac was studying samarskite when he discovered what came to be known as
gadolinium. But the story did not end there: even later, in 1901, French chemist Eugne-
Anatole Demaray (1852-1903) found yet another element, europium, in samarskite.
Samarium is applied today in nuclear power plant control rods, in carbon-arc lamps, and in
optical masers and lasers. In alloys with cobalt, it is used in manufacturing the most
permanent electromagnets available. Samarium is also utilized in the manufacture of optical
glass, and as a catalyst in the production of ethyl alcohol.
ERBIUM AND TERBIUM.
To return to Mosander, he was examining ytterite in 1843 when he identified three different
"earths," all of which he also named after Ytterby: yttria, erbia, and terbia. Erbium was the
first to be extracted. A pure sample of its oxide was prepared in 1905 by French chemist
Georges Urbain (1872-1938) and American chemist Charles James (1880-1928), but the pure
metal itself was only extracted in 1934.
Soft and malleable, with a lustrous silvery color, erbium produces salts (which are usually
combinations of a metal with a nonmetal) that are pink and rose, making it useful as a tinting
agent. One of its oxides is utilized, for instance, to tint glass and porcelain with a pinkish cast.
It is also applied, to a limited extent, in the nuclear power industry.
Mosander also identified another element, terbium, in ytterite in 1839, and Marignac isolated
it in a purer form nearly half a century later, in 1886. To repeat a common theme, it is silvery-
gray and soft enough to be cut with a knife. When hit by an electron beam, a compound
containing terbium emits a greenish color, and thus it is used as a phosphor in color television
sets.