Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Starting with the Rare Earths

Eddygp - 22-4-2012 at 12:28

I would like to start doing chemistry with some of the lanthanides (rare earth metals, I mean), but I want to know with which metals should I begin doing this chemistry. A friend of mine told me ytterbium was interesting to start with...
Which salts should I buy? Any ideas for interesting experiments (and preferably a bit easy?)?

Thanks!!

[Edited on 22-4-2012 by Eddygp]

elementcollector1 - 22-4-2012 at 14:23

neodymium compounds and their amazing ability to change color depending on light source.
That's all I can think of...

Pyridinium - 22-4-2012 at 14:55

Easiest / commonest one that comes to mind... cerium. Might as well start with that one.

And maybe you could make some cerium (IV) ammonium nitrate... nice bright colored compound, useful in analysis.

Eddygp - 24-4-2012 at 06:43

Thanks for the help! Any properties of the salts that may be interesting to see?

LanthanumK - 24-4-2012 at 09:02

Several of the rare earth elements have interesting fluorescence properties. Terfenol-D is an interesting rare earth alloy that expands in a magnetic field. Ytterbium is used as a detector for earthquakes and other high stresses because it changes resistance.

blogfast25 - 24-4-2012 at 11:46

Try extracting the neodymium from neo magnets, very hands on and quite satisfying, not to mention quite cheap to do. A long thread on that here:

http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=14145

[Edited on 24-4-2012 by blogfast25]

Eddygp - 1-5-2012 at 06:24

Thanks to all of you!

Dennis SK - 1-5-2012 at 06:50

Dysprosium salts are paramagnetic!

nezza - 5-5-2012 at 06:08

Indeed. Here's a short video showing paramagnetism in Dysprosium sulphate.

Attachment: Paramagnetism.wmv (1.5MB)
This file has been downloaded 646 times

bfesser - 13-1-2014 at 06:47

Quote: Originally posted by LanthanumK  
Ytterbium is used as a detector for earthquakes and other high stresses because it changes resistance.
Sorry to dig up an old thread, but when I first read this, I thought it sounded a little sensational. Perhaps a clarification is in order:<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ytterbium#Others" target="_blank">
Quote:
Ytterbium metal increases its electrical resistivity when subjected to high stresses. This property is used in stress gauges to monitor ground deformations from earthquakes and explosions. <img src="../scipics/_wiki.png" />
</a>

chloric1 - 17-7-2024 at 12:02

I’ve used praseodymium oxide as a pale yellow paint pigment. You might try making the chloride or nitrate. Here in the States, we have a ceramic pigment supplier that goes by the name USPigment. They are based in Illinois and have 14 or 15 rare earth oxides at reasonable prices. They are least good enough for pigments so making their salts should not require a ton of purification work up.

SnailsAttack - 29-7-2024 at 09:55

Quote: Originally posted by nezza  
Indeed. Here's a short video showing paramagnetism in Dysprosium sulphate.

A magnetic salt? awesome.
Quote: Originally posted by chloric1  
I’ve used praseodymium oxide as a pale yellow paint pigment. You might try making the chloride or nitrate. Here in the States, we have a ceramic pigment supplier that goes by the name USPigment. They are based in Illinois and have 14 or 15 rare earth oxides at reasonable prices. They are least good enough for pigments so making their salts should not require a ton of purification work up.

there are so many better yellow pigments.. where do they even get praseodymium