Praseodymium Facts
Praseodymium Facts
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| Interesting Praseodymium Facts: |
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| Praseodymium was initially discovered by Carl Gustav Mosander of Sweden in 1841. |
| Mosander was working with the residue formed by preparing lantana from cerium. |
| It wasn't until 1885 that Austrian scientist Baron Carl Auer von Weisbach was able to extract this residue of Mosander's into two separate salts, naming them praseodymium and neodymium. |
| Praseodymium is named from the Greek word for green, since it oxidizes slowly in air to form a green coating. |
| This green oxidation coating undergoes a process called spalling, which causes it to flake off. |
| Storing praseodymium in mineral oil or in sealed glass prevents this oxidation. |
| Unlike all of the other rare earth metals, praseodymium is paramagnetic above one degree Kelvin. |
| Praseodymium only has one stable and naturally occurring isotope. |
| The other thirty-eight known isotopes are radioactive, with two having the longest half-lives at a little over thirteen days or nineteen hours. |
| Most of praseodymium's radioactive isotopes have half-lives of less than ten minutes. |
| Praseodymium is only found in the Earth's crust at around 9.5 parts per million. |
| Its chief sources are in the minerals monazite and bastnasite, which are rich sources of other members of the lanthanides group of elements. |
| Praseodymium makes up about 5% of the lanthanides found in those two minerals. |
| It makes up only about one part per trillion concentrated in seawater, and like other lanthanides, is almost non-existent in the atmosphere. |
| Praseodymium's chief commercial use history was as a yellow stain for glass and ceramic making, and that continues to be its major use today. |
| It also serves a role in alloying to strengthen magnesium for air craft manufacturing, and in creating yellow cubic zirconia or simulated peridot for jewelry making. |
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