 Discovery Information
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| Who: Carl Mosander |
| When: 1843 |
| Where: Sweden |
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| Name Origin
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| From Ytterby, Sweden. |
| "Erbium" in different languages. |
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| Sources
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| 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.
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| Primary mining locations are in the USA, Brazil, India, Sri Lanka and Australia.
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| Abundance
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| 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
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| Atlantic deep: 8.6 x 10-7 ppm
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| Pacific surface: n/a ppm |
| Pacific deep: n/a ppm |
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| Uses
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| For making photographic filters and as a neutron absorber. Erbium oxide is used in ceramics to obtain a pink glaze.
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| When added to vanadium as an alloy erbium lowers hardness and improves workability.
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| History
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| 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.
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| Notes
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| 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.
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| Hazards
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| 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.
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