| Reactions of Europium |
 Reactions with water |
| Europium is quite electropositive and reacts slowly with cold water and fairly quickly with hot water to form europium hydroxide,
and hydrogen gas.
|
2Eu(s) + 6H2O(g) 2Eu(OH)3(aq) + 3H2(g) |
| Reactions with air |
| Europium metal burns readily in air to form europium(III) oxide. |
| 4Eu + 3O22Eu2O3 |
| Reactions with halogens |
| Europium metal reacts with all the halogens to form europium(III) halides. |
| 2Eu(s) + 3F2(g)2EuF3(s) |
| 2Eu(s) + 3Cl2(g)2EuCl3(s) |
| 2Eu(s) + 3Br2(g)2EuBr3(s) |
| 2Eu(s) + 3I2(g)2EuI3(s) |
| Reactions with acids |
| Europium metal dissolves readily in dilute sulphuric acid to form solutions containing the very pale pink Eu(III) ion together with hydrogen gas.
|
| 2Eu(s) + 3H2SO4(aq)2Eu3+(aq) + 3SO42-(aq) + 3H2(g) |
| |