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What is an interesting fact about samarium?

What is an interesting fact about samarium?

Samarium is a yellowish silver-colored metal. It is the hardest and the most brittle of the rare earth elements. It tarnishes in air and will ignite in air at about 150 °C. Under ordinary conditions, the metal has rhombohedral crystals.

What is an unusual use of samarium?

Samarium is used to dope calcium chloride crystals for use in optical lasers. It is also used in infrared absorbing glass and as a neutron absorber in nuclear reactors. Samarium oxide finds specialised use in glass and ceramics.

Does samarium react with water?

Reaction of samarium with water The silvery white metal samarium is quite electropositive and reacts slowly with cold water and quite quickly with hot water to form samarium hydroxide, Sm(OH)3, and hydrogen gas (H2).

Is samarium shiny or dull?

Samarium is a chemical element with the symbol Sm and atomic number 62. It is a moderately hard silvery metal that slowly oxidizes in air.

How does samarium look like?

Samarium is a bright, fairly hard, silvery white metal. It is one of the lanthanide rare earth metals. It is stable in air at normal temperatures, but ignites in air when the temperature is 150 oC or higher.

Is samarium found in the human body?

According to researchers, samarium speeds up metabolism. In the human body, the metal is found in the bloodstream, kidneys, and liver. Exposure may cause eye and skin irritation because the salts and compounds are found to be moderately to highly toxic. The metal has been found in some plants and animals as well.

Why is samarium important?

One of the most important uses of samarium is in the manufacture of very powerful magnets. Samarium is combined with the metal cobalt to make samarium-cobalt, or SmCo, magnets. They are among the strongest magnets known. They also have other desirable properties.

What does samarium look like?

What is samarium found in?

1879
Samarium/Discovered

Samarium was isolated as an impure oxide and spectroscopically identified as a new element in 1879 by French chemist Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran. Samarium occurs in many other rare-earth minerals but is almost exclusively obtained from bastnasite; it is also found in products of nuclear fission.

Where is samarium found in nature?

It is never found free in nature, but in contained in many minerals, including monazite, bastnasite and samarskite. Samarium containing ores are found in USA, China, Brazil, India, Australia and Sri Lanka.

How much samarium is in Earth’s crust?

Samarium (Sm, Z=62) Samarium is a silvery metal. It is named for the mineral samarskite, from which it was first obtained. It is present in the Earth’s crust at a concentration of 8 ppm, making it the 40th most abundant element.

Where can you find samarium on the Earth?

There is scant data about the toxicity of the element so it should be handed carefully. Samarium is found along with other rare earth elements in many minerals, including monazite (2.8 percent) and bastnasite, which are commercial sources.

What’s the atomic number of the element samarium?

Updated August 16, 2019. Samarium or Sm is a rare earth element or lanthanide with atomic number 62. Like other elements in the group, it is a shiny metal under ordinary conditions. Here is a collection of interesting samarium facts, including its uses and properties:

Is it true that samarium is not toxic to humans?

It’s unknown exactly how toxic samarium is. Its insoluble compounds are considered non-toxic, while the soluble salts may be mildly poisonous. There is some evidence samarium helps stimulate metabolism. It is not an essential element for human nutrition.

Is the metal samarium stable in the air?

Samarium, part of the lanthanide group of elements, is fairly stable in air and has a bright silver sheen. Three crystal modifications of the metal exist, with transformations at 734 and 922 C (1,353 and 1,692 F). [See Periodic Table of the Elements]