Samarium

Description

A yellowish-gray rare earth metallic element. Samarium was first identified by Lecoq de Boisbaudran in 1879. It has an abundance of 6.5-7.0 ppm in the earth's crust and in found in the minerals monazite, bastnasite, samarskite, cerite, orthite, ytterbite, and fluorspar. Samarium is a soft metal that quickly forms a hard, brittle oxide layer in air. It is used as a permanent magnet, an IR absorbent in glass, and a dopant in laser crystals.

Synonyms and Related Terms

Sm

Risks

• Combustible.
• Sensitive to moisture and air.
• Contact may cause irritation.
• Fisher Scientific: MSDS

Physical and Chemical Properties

Composition	Sm (atomic no. 62)
CAS	7440-19-9
Melting Point	1072 C
Density	7.53 g/ml
Molecular Weight	atomic wt = 150.4
Boiling Point	1791-1900 C

Resources and Citations

• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 178

• Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993

• Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia, Douglas M. Considine (ed.), Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1976

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• The Merck Index, Martha Windholz (ed.), Merck Research Labs, Rahway NJ, 10th edition, 1983 Comment: entry 8498

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998