Lutecium

Description

A soft, metallic rare-earth element that occurs with other rare-earth elements in monazite, gadolinite, and xenotime. First identified in 1907 by Georges Urbain and Carl Auer von Welsbach, lutecium is the least abundant of the Lanthanide elements estimated as present in 0.8 ppm of the earth's crust. Pure metallic lutecium is a silvery-white in color. It is used in nuclear technology and semiconductors.

Synonyms and Related Terms

Lu; Lutetium; lutécium (Fr.); lutezio (It.); Lutécio (Port.); lutecio (Esp.)

Risks

• Reacts with air and moisture.
• Fisher Scientific: MSDS

Physical and Chemical Properties

Soluble in dilute acids. Reacts slowly with water.

Composition	Lu (atomic no. 71)
CAS	7439-94-3
Melting Point	1663 C
Density	9.8404 g/ml
Molecular Weight	atomic wt = 174.967
Boiling Point	3402 C

Resources and Citations

• 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

• The Merck Index, Martha Windholz (ed.), Merck Research Labs, Rahway NJ, 10th edition, 1983 Comment: entry 5642

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

• Web elements at http://www.webelements.com/webelements/elements/text/Lu/hist.html