Neodymium Facts
Neodymium Facts
|
| Interesting Neodymium Facts: |
|---|
| Austrian scientist Carl Gustav von Weisbach discovered neodymium at the same time that he discovered praseodymium. |
| He had been studying the residue isolated by Mosander several years before when he made the discovery of both elements by fractional crystallization. |
| Despite being a rare earth element and never being found in its free form in nature, neodymium is as prevalent in the Earth's crust as nickel, copper, and cobalt. |
| It is most often found as a component in monazite and bastnasite minerals. |
| Neodymium's concentration is about thirty-eight milligrams per kilogram in the crust, which is second only to cerium for abundance of the rare earth elements. |
| As a lanthanide, neodymium is present in mischmetal, a naturally occurring conglomerate made up of several lanthanides at varying concentrations. |
| Neodymium is one of the more reactive of the rare earth metals, so it quickly begins to oxidize in air. |
| There are five naturally occurring stable isotopes of neodymium. |
| The most abundant of these stable isotopes is Nd-142 at a concentration of almost thirty percent of neodymium available. |
| Two of neodymium's radioactive isotopes, Nd-144 and Nd-150, are also found in nature. |
| There are an additional twenty-nine radioactive isotopes of neodymium, but the most stable are the two that are found naturally occurring. |
| The current reserves of neodymium are believed to be around eight million tons, with around seven thousand tons produced each year. |
| While neodymium's chief use was as a reddish-purple pigment for glass and ceramics, it has other applications in cryocoolers and as a fertilizer. |
| Neodymium, when alloyed with iron and boron, produces the strongest permanent magnets known to exist. |
|
Related Links: Facts Periodic Table Facts Animals Facts |