H' at. wt. (natural) 1.007967
at. wt. (H') 1.007822
at. no. 1
m.p. - 259.140C
b.p. - 252.870C
density 0.08988 gm./l
density (liquid) 70.8 gm/i. (-2530C)
density (solid) 7016 gm/i. (-2620C)
valence 1.
Electronic configuration
| K |
L |
M |
N |
O |
P |
Q |
| 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
| s |
s p |
s p d |
s p d f |
s p d f |
s p d f |
s p d f |
| 1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
ERBIUM (Ytterby, a town in Sweden), Er; at. wt. 167.26;
at. no.68; m.p. 15220C; b.p. 25100C; sp. gr. 9.045 (250C);
valence 3. Erbium, one of the so-called rare-earth elements
of the lanthanide series, is found in the minerals mentioned
under dysprosium above. In 1842 Mosander separated
"yttria", found in the mineral gadolinite, into three fractions
which he called yttria, erbia, and terbia. The names erbia
and terbia became confused in this early period. After 1860,
Mosander's terbia was known as erbia, and after 1877, the
earlier known erbia became terbia. The erbia of this period
was later shown to consist of five oxides, now known as
erbia, scandia, holmia, thulia, and ytterbia. By 1905 Urbain
and James independently succeeded in isolating fairly pure
Er2O3. Klemm and Bommer first produced reason-
ably pure erbium metal in 1934 by reducing the anhydrous
chloride with potassium vapor. The pure metal is soft and
malleable and has a bright, silvery, metallic luster. As with
other rare-earth metals, its properties depend to a certain
extent on the impurities present. The metal is fairly stable in
air and does not oxidize as rapidly as some of the other
rare-earth metals. Natural-occurring erbium is a mixture of
six isotopes, all of which are stable. Ten radioactive iso-
topes of erbium are also recognized. Recent production
techniques, using ion-exchange reactions, have resulted in
much lower prices of the rare-earth metals and their com-
pounds in recent years. The cost of 99+ % erbium metal is
about 51.00 per gram, in small quantities. Erbium is findingnuclear and metallurgical uses. Added to vanadium, for
example, erbium lowers the hardness and improves work-
ability. Most of the rare earth oxides have sharp absorption
bands in the visible, ultraviolet, and near infrared. This
property, associated with the electronic structure, gives
beautiful pastel colors to many of the rare-earth salts.
Erbium oxide gives a pink color and has been used as a
colorant in glasses and porcelain en~ame1 glazes.
© 1999 F. Davies
Delphi O.E.M. Co.
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