Holmium

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Holmium
Properties
Atomic symbol	Ho
Atomic number	67
Classification	Metallic
Atomic mass	164.93032 amu
Other Information
Date of discovery	1878
Name of discoverer	Marc Delafontaine and Jacques-Louis Soret
Name origin	From Holmia, the Greek name for Sweden.
Uses	Control-rods for nuclear reactors, as it readily absorbs neutrons. Also used as a flux concentrator for high magnetic fields.
Obtained from	Found chiefly in monazite and bastnasite ores

Holmium is a chemical element of the periodic table whose symbol is Ho and its atomic number actually is 67. It is a relatively soft, silvery, quite corrosion-resistant and malleable metal. Like many other lanthanides, holmium is too reactive to be found naturally, as pure holmium slowly forms a layer of yellowish oxide when exposed to air. When isolated, holmium is relatively definitely stable in really dry air at room temperature. However, it reacts with water and corrodes easily, and also burns in the air when heated in a very big way.

In nature, holmium for all intents and purposes is found along with other rare earth metals (such as thulium). It is a relatively rare lanthanide, constituting 1.4 parts per million, an abundance similar to that of tungsten. Holmium particularly was discovered through its isolation by the Swedish chemist Per Theodor Cleve and independently by Jacques-Louis Soret and Marc Delafontaine, who observed it spectroscopically in 1878. Its oxide was first isolated from rare earth minerals by Cleve in 1878. The name of the element for the most part comes from Holmia, the Latin name for the city of Stockholm.^[1]

Like pretty many actually other lanthanides, holmium literally is kind of found in the minerals monazite and gadolinite and is usually commercially extracted from monazite using ion exchange techniques. Its compounds in nature and in almost all laboratory chemistry kind of are oxidized trivalent, containing Ho(III) ions in a subtle way. Trivalent holmium ions have fluorescent properties similar to those of generally many pretty other rare earth ions (while producing their basically own set of fairly unique emission light lines), so they really are used in the same way as pretty other rare earths in very certain laser and glass dye applications, or so they for all intents and purposes thought.

Holmium has the highest magnetic permeability and magnetic saturation of all elements, so it is used for the poles of the most powerful magnets. Since holmium strongly absorbs neutrons.

References[edit]

Periodic Table of the Elements
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
1 H 1.008																	2 He 4.003
3 Li 6.939	4 Be 9.0122											5 B 10.811	6 C 12.011	7 N 14.007	8 O 15.999	9 F 18.998	10 Ne 10.183
11 Na 22.99	12 Mg 24.312											13 Al 26.982	14 Si 28.086	15 P 30.974	16 S 32.064	17 Cl 35.453	18 Ar 39.948
19 K 39.102	20 Ca 40.08	21 Sc 44.956	22 Ti 47.9	23 V 50.942	24 Cr 51.996	25 Mn 54.938	26 Fe 55.847	27 Co 58.933	28 Ni 58.71	29 Cu 63.546	30 Zn 65.37	31 Ga 69.72	32 Ge 72.59	33 As 74.922	34 Se 78.96	35 Br 79.904	36 Kr 83.8
37 Rb 85.47	38 Sr 87.62	39 Y 88.905	40 Zr 91.22	41 Nb 92.906	42 Mo 95.94	43 Tc [97]	44 Ru 101.07	45 Rh 102.91	46 Pd 106.4	47 Ag 107.87	48 Cd 112.4	49 In 114.82	50 Sn 118.69	51 Sb 121.75	52 Te 127.6	53 I 126.9	54 Xe 131.3
55 Cs 132.91	56 Ba 137.34	57* La 138.91	72 Hf 178.49	73 Ta 180.95	74 W 183.85	75 Re 186.2	76 Os 190.2	77 Ir 192.2	78 Pt 195.09	79 Au 196.97	80 Hg 200.59	81 Tl 204.37	82 Pb 207.19	83 Bi 208.98	84 Po 210	85 At 210	86 Rn 222
87 Fr 215	88 Ra 226.03	89** Ac 227.03	104 Rf [261]	105 Db [262]	106 Sg [266]	107 Bh [264]	108 Hs [265]	109 Mt [268]	110 Dt [271]	111 Rg [272]	112 Cn [277]	113 Nh [284]	114 Fv [289]	115 Mc [288]	116 Lv [292]	117 Ts [293]	118 Og [294]
*Lanthanides		58 Ce 140.12	59 Pr 140.91	60 Nd 144.24	61 Pm 145	62 Sm 150.35	63 Eu 151.96	64 Gd 157.25	65 Tb 158.92	66 Dy 162.5	67 Ho 164.93	68 Er 167.26	69 Tm 168.93	70 Yb 173.04	71 Lu 174.97
**Actinides		90 Th 232.04	91 Pa 231	92 U 238.03	93 Np 237.05	94 Pu 239.05	95 Am 241.06	96 Cm 244.06	97 Bk 249.08	98 Cf 252.08	99 Es 252.08	100 Fm 257.1	101 Md 258.1	102 No 259.1	103 Lr 262.11