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Erbium [Er] locate me
CAS-ID: 7440-52-0
An: 68 N: 99
Am: 167.259 (3) g/mol
Group Name: Lanthanoids
Block: f-block  Period: 6 (lanthanoid)
State: solid at 298 K
Colour: silvery white Classification: Metallic
Boiling Point: 3141K (2868°C)
Melting Point: 1770K (1497°C)
Density: 9.066g/cm3
Discovery Information
Who: Carl Mosander
When: 1843
Where: Sweden
Name Origin
From Ytterby, Sweden.
 "Erbium" in different languages.
Sources
Found with other heavier rare earth metals, and in the minerals xenotime and euxenite ((Y,Ca,Ce,U,Th)(Nb,Ta,Ti)2O6). Around 500 tons are produced annually.
Primary mining locations are in the USA, Brazil, India, Sri Lanka and Australia.
Abundance
 Universe: 0.002 ppm (by weight)
 Sun: 0.001 ppm (by weight)
 Carbonaceous meteorite: 0.18 ppm
 Earth's Crust: 3.8 ppm
 Seawater:
   Atlantic surface: 5.9 x 10-7 ppm
   Atlantic deep: 8.6 x 10-7 ppm
   Pacific surface: n/a ppm
   Pacific deep: n/a ppm
Uses
For making photographic filters and as a neutron absorber. Erbium oxide is used in ceramics to obtain a pink glaze.
When added to vanadium as an alloy erbium lowers hardness and improves workability.
History
Erbium (for Ytterby, a town in Sweden) was discovered by Carl Gustaf Mosander in 1843. Mosander separated "yttria" from the mineral gadolinite ((Ce,La,Nd,Y)2FeBe2Si2O10) into three fractions which he called yttria, erbia, and terbia. He named the new element after the town of Ytterby where large concentrations of yttria and erbium are located. Erbia and terbia, however, were confused at this time. After 1860, terbia was renamed erbia and after 1877 what had been known as erbia was renamed terbia. Fairly pure Er2O3 was independently isolated in 1905 by Georges Urbain and Charles James. Reasonably pure metal wasn't produced until 1934 when workers reduced the anhydrous chloride with potassium vapour.
Notes
A trivalent element, pure erbium metal is malleable, soft yet stable in air and does not oxidize as quickly as some other rare-earth metals. Its salts are rose-coloured and the element gives a characteristic sharp absorption spectra in visible light, ultraviolet, and near infrared. Otherwise it looks much like the other rare earths.
Hazards
Metallic erbium in dust form presents a fire and explosion hazard.
Erbium is mostly dangerous in the working environment, due to the fact that damps and gasses can be inhaled with air. This can cause lung embolisms, especially during long-term exposure. Erbium can be a threat to the liver when it accumulates in the human body.