The Rare Earths: Their Occurrence, Chemistry, and Technology

Name: The Rare Earths: Their Occurrence, Chemistry, and Technology
Author: Levy, Stanley Isaac

Levy, Stanley Isaac

Rare earths

The new element appears to be intermediate between lutecium and
scandium, and therefore may be expected to have a higher atomic weight
than the former element. Its chloride is more volatile than that of
lutecium, less volatile than that of scandium; its hydroxide is more
feebly basic than that of lutecium, but more strongly basic than that of
scandium.

Urbain (_loc. cit._) gives the following as the principal lines in the
spectrum; strong lines are denoted by a single, very strong by a double,
asterisk:

  2459·4
  2469·3
  2481·6 *
  2536·9 *
  2677·7
  2685·2 **
  2729·1 *
  2737·9
  2765·8 **
  2834·3 *
  2837·3 *
  2845·2 *
  2870·2
  2885·1 *
  2903·9 *
  2931·9
  2949·5 *
  3080·7 **
  3118·6 **
  3171·4 *
  3197·9 **
  3326·0 *
  3391·5 *
  3665·6


~Yttrium~, Yt = 89·0

Since the separation of yttria proper from the old yttria earths by
Mosander, in 1842, the individuality of yttrium has been well
established. The yttria of the workers of the sixties and seventies, to
judge from the atomic weight determinations, must have been very impure,
but no doubts were raised as to its homogeneity. By examination of the
cathode luminescence spectra, Crookes[399] concluded that the oxide was
of a complex nature; Lecoq de Boisbaudran, however, showed that the
phenomena observed by Crookes were due to traces of impurity in his
material, a conclusion confirmed by the work of Baur and Marc.[400]

  [399] _Trans. Chem. Soc._ 1889, ~55~, 255.

  [400] _Ber._ 1901, ~34~, 2460.

The oxide is the most strongly basic of all the yttria earths; in the
basicity methods of separation, therefore, it collects in the end
fractions, and is easily separated from the erbia and ytterbia earths by
the nitrate fusion and similar processes. The terbia earths, however,
which are comparable to it in basic strength, cannot be easily separated
by such methods; processes of fractional crystallisation are very
convenient in this case, since yttrium falls, with regard to the
solubility of its simple salts, among the erbium group--between holmium
and erbium generally--which is easily separated from the less soluble
terbium elements. The separation of yttrium, therefore, affords an
example of the combination of methods of both kinds.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

The Rare Earths: Their Occurrence, Chemistry, and TechnologyLevy, Stanley Isaac

Science

The Rare Earths: Their Occurrence, Chemistry, and Technology

Levy, Stanley Isaac

Rare earths

The new element appears to be intermediate between lutecium and
scandium, and therefore may be expected to have a higher atomic weight
than the former element. Its chloride is more volatile than that of
lutecium, less volatile than that of scandium; its hydroxide is more
feebly basic than that of lutecium, but more strongly basic than that of
scandium.

Urbain (_loc. cit._) gives the following as the principal lines in the
spectrum; strong lines are denoted by a single, very strong by a double,
asterisk:

  2459·4
  2469·3
  2481·6 *
  2536·9 *
  2677·7
  2685·2 **
  2729·1 *
  2737·9
  2765·8 **
  2834·3 *
  2837·3 *
  2845·2 *
  2870·2
  2885·1 *
  2903·9 *
  2931·9
  2949·5 *
  3080·7 **
  3118·6 **
  3171·4 *
  3197·9 **
  3326·0 *
  3391·5 *
  3665·6


~Yttrium~, Yt = 89·0

Since the separation of yttria proper from the old yttria earths by
Mosander, in 1842, the individuality of yttrium has been well
established. The yttria of the workers of the sixties and seventies, to
judge from the atomic weight determinations, must have been very impure,
but no doubts were raised as to its homogeneity. By examination of the
cathode luminescence spectra, Crookes[399] concluded that the oxide was
of a complex nature; Lecoq de Boisbaudran, however, showed that the
phenomena observed by Crookes were due to traces of impurity in his
material, a conclusion confirmed by the work of Baur and Marc.[400]

  [399] _Trans. Chem. Soc._ 1889, ~55~, 255.

  [400] _Ber._ 1901, ~34~, 2460.

The oxide is the most strongly basic of all the yttria earths; in the
basicity methods of separation, therefore, it collects in the end
fractions, and is easily separated from the erbia and ytterbia earths by
the nitrate fusion and similar processes. The terbia earths, however,
which are comparable to it in basic strength, cannot be easily separated
by such methods; processes of fractional crystallisation are very
convenient in this case, since yttrium falls, with regard to the
solubility of its simple salts, among the erbium group--between holmium
and erbium generally--which is easily separated from the less soluble
terbium elements. The separation of yttrium, therefore, affords an
example of the combination of methods of both kinds.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Rare Earths: Their Occurrence, Chemistry, and Technology

The Rare Earths: Their Occurrence, Chemistry, and Technology

No reviews yet