 Discovery Information
|
| Who: Charles Hatchet |
| When: 1801 |
| Where: England |
|
| Name Origin
|
| From Niobe; daughter of the mythical Greek king Tantalus. |
| "Niobium" in different languages. |
|
| Sources
|
| Occurs in the minerals columbite ([(Fe, Mn)(Nb, Ta)2O6]), columbite-tantalite, pyrochlore ((Na,Ca)2Nb2O6(OH,F)) and euxenite ((Y,Ca,Ce,U,Th)(Nb,Ta,Ti)2O6). Brazil and Canada are the major producers of niobium mineral concentrates and extensive ore reserves are also in Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, and in Russia.
|
| Around 15 thousand tons are produced annually. |
|
| Abundance
|
| Universe: 0.002 ppm (by weight) |
| Sun: 0.004 ppm (by weight) |
| Carbonaceous meteorite: 0.19 ppm |
| Earth's Crust: 17 ppm |
| Seawater: 9 x 10-7 ppm
|
|
| Uses
|
| It is used in stainless steel alloys for nuclear reactors, jets, missiles, cutting tools, pipelines, super magnets and welding rods. Because of its bluish colour,
niobium is also used in body piercing jewellery (usually as an alloy).
|
| Appreciable amounts of niobium in the form of high-purity ferroniobium and nickel niobium are used in nickel-, cobalt-, and iron-base superalloys for such applications as jet engine components, rocket subassemblies, and heat-resisting and combustion
equipment. For example, advanced air frame systems such as those used in the Gemini program used this metal.
|
| Niobium is also added to glass in order to attain a higher refractive index, a property used in the optical industry to make
thinner corrective glasses.
|
|
| History
|
| Niobium (Greek mythology: Niobe, daughter of Tantalus) was discovered by Charles Hatchett in 1801. Hatchett found niobium in columbite ore that was sent to England in the 1750s by John Winthrop, the first governor of Connecticut.
There was a considerable amount of confusion about the difference between the closely-related niobium and tantalum that wasn't
resolved until 1846 by Heinrich Rose and Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac, who rediscovered the element. Since Rose was unaware of Hatchett's work, he gave the element a different name, niobium.
In 1864 Christian Blomstrand was the first to prepare the pure metal, reducing niobium chloride by heating it in a hydrogen atmosphere.
|
| Columbium (symbol Cb) was the name originally given to this element by Hatchett, but the International Union of Pure and Applied
Chemistry (IUPAC) officially adopted "niobium" as the name for element 41 in 1950 after 100 years of controversy. This was
a compromise of sorts; the IUPAC accepted tungsten instead of wolfram, in deference to North American usage; and niobium instead of columbium, in deference to European usage.
Not everyone agreed, however, and while many leading chemical societies and government organizations refer to it by the official
IUPAC name, many leading metallurgists, metal societies, and most leading American commercial producers still refer to the
metal by the original "columbium."
|
|
| Notes
|
| Previously known as Columbium (Cb). |
|
| Hazards
|
| Niobium containing compounds are relatively rarely encountered by most people but many are highly toxic and should be treated with care. Metallic niobium
dust is an eye and skin irritant and also can be a fire hazard.
|
