16 entries with one-by-one descriptions.
A very reactive iron-gray colored metal and the most abundant of the lanthanide series. Cerium averages 63 mg/kg, making it the 26th most abundant element in the earth's crust. It is mostly used in one of its many oxide states, as the unalloyed metal is toxic and reactive.
A soft metal with a bright silver luster. The metal is a by-product in the commercial production of yttrium.
A bright, silvery metal. It belongs to the heavy rare earth elements that are less abundant in nature. Erbium occurs in nature in mixtures with other lanthanide elements. A common mineral is gadolinite. The metal is fairly stable in air and does not oxidize as rapidly as some other metals.
A soft silvery metal. Europium has the second lowest melting point and the lowest density of all lanthanides. It ignites in air at 150-180 degrees C to form europium oxide and is the most reactive of the rare earth elements. The metal is soft and quite ductile. Europium is a fission product generated in nuclear reactors. Europium is not found in nature as a free element but is found mixed with other rare earth elements.
A silvery white ductile metal which is classified as a light rare earth element. It is relatively stable in dry air but tarnishes in moist air. It is ferromagnetic at temperatures below 20 degrees C and paramagnetic above this temperature.
A soft, malleable metal with a bright silver luster. It oxidizes rapidly in moist air and at elevated temperatures. It falls within the heavy lanthanide rare earth elements and has the strongest magnetic moment of any natural element.
A soft, silver white metal. It is rarely kept in elemental form because it quickly oxidizes in air; it burns easily when ignited. Its oxide is much more stable and is the basis for most applications that use lanthanum.
A silvery white metal that is relatively stable in air. It is found in very small amounts in almost all minerals containing yttrium. Commercially extracted from monazite, it is one of the most difficult metals to prepare. It is one of the rarest and the most expensive of the rare earth metals with a price about US $10,000 per kilogram. It has very few commercial applications and is used primarily in research.
A soft, bright, silvery metal. It is one of the most reactive of rare earth elements and quickly oxidizes in air. The primary source of neodymium is from carbonatites and bastnaesite, and a secondary source is in monazite. It is found in minerals such as cerite and allanite. The pure metal has limited application. A component, along with praseodymium, of didymium glass.
A soft, silvery, malleable, and ductile metal. Its average concentration in earth's crust makes it more abundant than silver, gold, or antimony. It is too reactive to be found in native form, and pure praseodymium metal slowly develops a green oxide coating when exposed to air.
A bright silver metal that is reasonably stable in air. Widely distributed in nature but in trace quantities always associated with other rare earth elements. The commercial source of samarium is from carbonatites and bastnaesite. It is also found in Precambrian granite rocks, shale, and in minerals such as xenotime and basalt.
Scandium is a transition metal that is silvery white, soft and light, and has historically been classified as a rare-earth element, together with yttrium and the lanthanides. It is found widely dispersed in low concentrations in many minerals, but primarily as a trace constituent of ferro magnesium minerals. The strengthening effects of scandium on aluminum alloys were discovered in the 1970s, and its use in such alloys remains its only major application.
A silvery-grey rare earth metal that is malleable and ductile, soft enough to be cut with a knife, and relatively stable in air compared with other lanthanides. It is a fairly electropositive metal that reacts with water, evolving hydrogen gas. Terbium is found in nature associated with other rare earth elements in xenotime, euxenite, cerite, monazite and gadolinite at concentrations typically < 1% rare earth oxides.
A silvery-white, lustrous metal that is soft, malleable, and ductile. Thulium is the second-rarest element after promethium. It is very difficult to separate from the other rare earth elements and, because of its scarcity and high price, there are few applications for this element.
A soft, malleable, and ductile silvery metal; its concentration in the upper continental crust is ~1.96 mg/kg. Found naturally in the minerals euxenite, gadolinite, monazite and xenotime, but it is principally commercially extracted from monazite sand that contains ~0.03% Yb.
A soft, silver-colored metal that has similar properties to the lanthanides and is classified with the rare earth elements; its abundance in the earth's crust is ~ 21 mg/kg, making it the 28th most abundant crustal element. Yttrium occurs with most rare earths deposits.
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