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Article: Terbium
- 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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Terbium
melting point:
1,356
°
C
boiling point: 2,480
°
C
density: 8.253g/cm
3
most common ions: Tb
3+
,
Tb
4+
In 1787, near Ytterby, Sweden, Swedish army officer Karl Axel Arrhenius discovered a mineral that he named ytterite. In 1794 Finnish chemist Johan Gadolin, working with ytterite, isolated a mixture of oxides (yttria) from which Carl G. Mosander in 1843 isolated three fractions: the oxide of the element yttrium (Y) and two other mixtures of oxides (old erbia and old terbia). In 1878 Swiss chemist Marc Delafontaine worked with "old erbia" but called it new new terbia. Also in 1878 J. C. Galissard de Marignac and Delafontaine, working with "new terbia," isolated an oxide of ...