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Article: Samarium
- Article from:
- Chemistry: Foundations and Applications
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Samarium
melting point:
1,072
°
C
boiling point: 1,900
°
C
density: 7.536 g/cm
3
most common ions: Sm
2+
, Sm
3+
In 1886, French chemist P. E. Lecoq de Boisbaudran, working with the mixture of oxides known as didymia, isolated the element gadolinium and, three years later, a mixture known as samaria. Working with this mixture, Eugene-Anatole Demar
ç
ay (1901) discovered the elements europium and samarium (getting its name from the mineral samarskite). The element comprises 6.47
×
10
−
4
percent of the igneous rocks of Earth's crust. The important minerals are bastnasite (in which are found fluorocarbonates of the cerium group), and monazite and xenotime (in which are ...