The yttrium element was discovered at the end of the 18th century. However, only over the past few decades, this soft silver metal has found wide application in various fields: chemistry, physics, computer technology, energy, medicine and others. The electronic formula of yttrium (atom): Y - 1s 2 2s 2 2p 6 3s 2 3p 6 4s 2 3d 10 4p 6 4d 1 5s 2 .
Facts
Atomic number (number of protons in the nucleus): 39.
Atomic symbol (in the periodic table of elements): Y.
Atomic mass: 88,906.
Properties: yttrium melts at a temperature of 2772 degrees Fahrenheit (1522 degrees Celsius); boiling point - 6053 F (3345 ° C). The density of the metal is 4.47 grams per cubic centimeter. At room temperature it is in a solid state. In air, it is covered by an oxide protective film. In boiling water, oxygen is oxidized, reacts with mineral, acetic acids. When heated, it can interact with elements such as halogens, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus.
Description
The chemical element yttrium in the periodic table is among the transition metals. They are characterized by strength and at the same time compliance, so some of them, such as copper and nickel, are widely used for wire. Yttrium wires and rods are also used in electronics and for generating solar energy. Yttrium is also used in lasers, ceramics, camera lenses and dozens of other items.
The chemical element yttrium is also one of the rare earths. Despite this name, they are quite numerous throughout the world. There are 17 of them.
However, yttrium is rarely used on its own. As a rule, it is used to form compounds such as yttrium, barium and copper oxide. Thanks to this, a new phase of research on high-temperature superconductivity was discovered. Yttrium is also added to metal alloys to improve corrosion and oxidation resistance.
History
In 1787, a Swedish army lieutenant and chemist in combination by the name of Karl Axel Arrhenius discovered an unusual black rock while exploring a quarry near Ytterby, a small town near the capital of Sweden, Stockholm. Thinking that he had discovered a new mineral containing tungsten, Arrhenius sent a sample to Johan Gadolin, a mineralogist and chemist from Finland, for analysis.
Gadolin isolated the chemical element yttrium in the mineral, which was subsequently named after him gadolinite. The name of the new metal, respectively, came from Ytterby, the place of its discovery.
In 1843, a Swedish chemist named Karl Gustav Mosander studied yttrium samples and found that they contained three oxides. At that time they were called yttrium, erbium and terbium. Now they are known as white yttrium oxide, yellow terbium oxide and pink erbium oxide, respectively. The fourth oxide, ytterbium oxide, was identified in 1878.
Sources
Although the chemical element yttrium was discovered in Scandinavia, it is much more in other countries. China, Russia, India, Malaysia and Australia are its leading manufacturers. In April 2018, scientists discovered a huge deposit of rare earth metals, including yttrium, on a small Japanese island called Minamitori.
It can be found among most rare earth minerals, but it has never been discovered in the earth's crust as an autonomous element. The human body also contains this element in tiny amounts, usually it is concentrated in the liver, kidneys and bones.
Using
Before the era of flat-screen TVs, they had large cathode ray tubes that projected the image onto the screen. Yttrium oxide doped with europium provided red.
It is also added to zirconium oxide (zirconia) to obtain an alloy that stabilizes the crystalline structure of the latter, which usually changes under the influence of temperature.
Synthetic garnets made from yttrium-aluminum composite were sold in large quantities in the 1970s, but they eventually gave way to zirconium. These days they are used as crystals that amplify light in industrial lasers. In addition, they are used for microwave filters, as well as in radar and communication technology.
The chemical element yttrium is widely used for the production of phosphors. They have found application in cell phones and large screens, as well as fluorescent lamps (linear and compact).
The radioactive isotope yttrium-90 is used in radiation therapy to treat cancer.
Ongoing research
According to scientists, working with yttrium is easier and cheaper than with many other elements. For example, researchers use it instead of much more expensive platinum to develop fuel cells. Scientists from the Chalmers University of Technology and the Technical University of Denmark use it together with other rare-earth metals in the form of nanoparticles, which can one day eliminate the need for fossil fuels and increase the efficiency of cars that are powered by batteries.
Studies of yttrium-based superconductivity are ongoing worldwide. Breakthroughs are made, in particular, in the field of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Physicist Paul Chu and his team at the University of Houston have discovered that a compound of yttrium, barium, and copper oxide (known as yttrium-123) can promote superconductivity at temperatures around minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 184.4 degrees Celsius). They created a material that can be cooled with liquid nitrogen, which will significantly reduce the cost of future applications of superconductivity. At the same time, the potential possibilities of its use have not yet been fully explored.