Vanadium Facts
Vanadium Facts
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| Interesting Vanadium Facts: |
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| Vanadium was discovered in 1801 by Spanish Mexican scientist Andres Manuel del Rio. |
| Del Rio was studying "brown lead," a native Mexican ore. |
| When another scientist challenged the existence of vanadium, del Rio backed down from claims of his discovery. |
| It was later rediscovered in 1831 by Nils Gabriel Sefstrom. |
| The name vanadium came from a Norse goddess, Vanadis, but was chosen because Sefstrom realized no other element started with the letter V. |
| Vanadium was almost renamed "rionium" after its original discoverer, but it was rejected. |
| Vanadium does not appear naturally in its elemental form, but is found in more than sixty-five minerals. |
| It is harder than most of the other elemental metals. |
| Vanadium has one stable isotope, V-51. |
| It also has one radioactive isotope, v-50. |
| Artificial radioisotopes of vanadium have been produced, with half-lives ranging from over three hundred days down to less than ten seconds. |
| 98% of the world's vanadium is mined in three counties: South Africa, China, and Russia. |
| Vanadium is most often used as the ferrovanadium alloy and is used to improve steel. |
| 85% of the vanadium extracted is used for ferrovanadium or steel. |
| Vanadium is more often found in oceanic animals than on land. |
| On land, rats and chickens require miniscule amounts of vanadium. |
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