| Yttrium | |
|---|---|
 The location of Yttrium | |
|
Symbol |
Y |
|
Number |
39 |
|
Group, Period |
3, 5 |
|
2,8,18,9,2 | |
|
Discoverer |
Johan Gadolin, named by Anders Gustaf Ekeberg |
|
Date discovered |
1794 |
|
Location discovered |
Finland |
|
Atomic weight |
88.90585 |
|
Category |
|
Yttrium is an element that's symbol is Y and has the number 39. It is a silver metallic transition metal that has properties similar to lanthanoids and is a rare earth mineral. The only stable isotope, 89Y is the only naturally occurring isotope.
Johan Gadolin discovered the Yttrium inside some ytterbite in 1789, but it was named by Anders Gustaf Ekeberg.
The most important use of the element is making phosphors. Other uses are production of electrodes, electrolytes, electron filters, lasers, and superconductors.
Properties[]
Yttrium is soft and silver-metallic, and is a highly crystalline transition metal. It is less electronegative than the element scandium, more electronegative than lanthanum, but less electronegative than zirconium.
The pure element is stable in air in bulk form because the protective oxide (Y2O3) film on the surface.
Similarities to lanthanides[]
Yttrium is so similar to the lanthanides, the element was grouped with them as a rare earth element.
Chemically, the element resembles lanthanides more than it does its neighbors.
It often falls in same range of reaction order, resembling terbium and dysprosium at its chemical relativity.
One of the notable differences between yttrium and lanthanides is that yttrium is almost exclusively trivalent, while many lanthanides are often quadrivalent,
Compounds[]
As a trivalent transition metal, Yttrium forms some inorganic compounds, mostly in the oxidation state of +3. A good example of this is yttrium (III) oxide (Y2O3) also known as yttria.
Water reacts with yttrium and its compounds to create hydrogen gas and Y2O3. Concentrated nitric and hydrofluoric acids do not rapidly destroy yttrium, but other stronger acids do.
With halogens, yttrium forms yttrium(III) fluoride (YF3), yttrium(III) chloride (YCl3), and yttrium(III) bromide (YBr3) all of which at temperatures above roughly 200 degrees Celsius. Carbon, phosphorus, selenium, silicon and sulfur all form compounds with yttrium at elevated temperatures.
Nucleosynthesis[]
The star Mira
Yttrium in the solar system was formed through stellar nucleosynthesis, mostly by slow addition of neutrons in highly-evolved stars of relatively low mass (s process). Mira, shown to the right, is an example of a star currently forming yttrium. Some additional Y forms by rapid neutron capture during supernovae or neutron star mergers.
Isotopes[]
Yttrium electron shell
For more information, see Yttrium isotopes
Yttrium isotopes are close to the most common products of the nuclear fission of uranium occurring in nuclear explosions and nuclear reactors. With waste management, the most important yttrium isotopes are 91Y and 90Y, with half-lives of 58.51 days and 64 hours.
All Group 3 elements have an odd number of protons making each of these elements have few stable isotopes. Yttrium has only one stable isotope, 89Y, which is also its only naturally occurring one.
Like all elements, Y has numerous short-loved isotopes, of which at least 32 have been observed, ranging in mass number from 76 to 108. The least stable isotope of yttrium is 106Y with a half-life of >150 ns and the most stable isotope is 88Y with a half-life of 106.626 days. Besides the isotopes 91Y, 87Y, and 90Y, with half lives of 58.51 days, 79.8 hours, and 64 hours, respectively, all other isotopes have half lives of less than a day and most of those have half-lives of less than an hour.
Yttrium's only stable isotope, 89Y, has 50 neutrons, a magic number. Unlike neutron shell closures at N = 82 and 126, does not cause isotopes heavier than Y 89 to become unstable toward alpha decay.
History[]
In 1787, Carl Axel Arrhenius discovered a heavy black rock near the village named Ytterby. Thinking this was an unknown mineral containing tungsten, he named the mineral ytterbite and sent samples to some chemists for testing.
Johan Gadolin, the discoverer of yttrium
Johan Gadolin found a new oxide in the sample Arrhenius gave him in 1789. In 1794, he published and completed his analysis. Anders Gustaf Ekeberg confirmed this in 1797, and named the oxide yttria.
In 1843, Carl Gustav Mosander found that yttria contained three oxides, yttrium oxide, terbium oxide, and erbium oxide. After these were identified, Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac discovered a new oxide, ytterbium oxide in 1878.
Abundance[]
Yttrium is found in many rare earth minerals, and some in uranium ore, but it is never found in nature as a free element.
Production[]
The similarity between Yttrium and the lanthanides, leaving it enriched by the same process and same ores as lanthanoids. A small seperation between light rare earth elements (LREE) and heavy rare earth elements (HREE), but the seperation is never complete.
A piece of yttrium
There are 4 sources for REEs.
- Carbonate and fluoride with ore such as bastnäsite contains an average of 0.1% of yttrium compared to the 99.9% in 16 other REEs.
- Monazite, which is mostly a phosphate is a placer deposit of sand and is created through eroded granite. Monazite contains 2 or possibly 3% of yttrium. The largest deposits were found in India and Brazil, making these countries the countries with the most yttrium.
- Xenotime, an REE phosphate contains up to 60% of yttrium or yttrium phosphate (YPO4). The largest mine for xenotime is in the Bayan Obo deposit in China.
- Ion absorption clays are the weathering granite, and the final ore concentrate can contain up to 8% of yttrium.
The element can also be found in samarskite and fergusonite.
Production of pure Y compounds is difficult because its ores are likely to contain scandium, all the other lanthanides, as well as thorium and maybe uranium. Raw ore is digested with sulfuric acid to produce soluble sulfates. The sulface solution is then subjected to ion-exchange chromatography. In that technique, anions at the surface of a solid resin bind to dissolved cations in the solution, retarding their progress through the resin by an amount which is unique to each cation. Output of the chromatography step is nearly pure Y2(SO4)3. Depending on the ore being processed, additional steps may be used either before or after chromatography to eliminate metals which do not require chromatographic separation. Wikipedia's articles on yttrium and the lanthanides give further details.
Uses[]
A YBCO superconductor
Yttrium oxide sulfide phosphors give red color in color television, though the red color itself is created by the europium, while the yttrium from the electron gun and places it in the phosphor.
Compounds of yttrium are used as a catalyst for ethylene polymerization.
Yttrium is also used in YBCO superconductors.
Precautions[]
Water soluble compounds are considered mildly toxic, while the insoluble compounds are not toxic. In experiments with animals, it shows that it may cause lung and liver damage.
Exposure to yttrium in humans can cause lung disease. Workers exposed to yttrium europium vanadate dust experience mild eye, skin and respiratory tract irritation.
Gallery[]
