Group 3 / IIIB; Lanthanides

or "Rare Earths"

Lanthanides are also called "rare earth". They are not really rare just hard to produce, and the present-day monopoly of China has exercised the media quite a bit. That's because the appear in many high-tech uses and are thus important for the well-being of industrialized countries.
Lanthanides are chemically very similar because they all look the same to outsiders - their outermost electron configuration is identical.
Actinides are evil elements and that's why we are going to ignore them
Table of Basic Data
 
Name
(German)
Lanthanum
La
Lanthan
Cerium
Ce
Cer
Praseodymium
Pr
Praseodym
Neodymium
Nd
Neodym
Promethium
Pr
Promethium
Samarium
Sa
Samarium
Europium
Eu
Europium
Gadolinium
Gd
Gadolinium
Terbium
Tb
Terbium
Dysprosium
Dy
Dysprosium
Holmium
Ho
Holmium
Erbium
Er
Erbium
Thulium
Tm
Thulium
Ytterbium
Yb
Ytterbium
Lutetium
Lu
Lutetium
Atomic number 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69  70 71
Atomic mass [u] 138,9 140,1 140,9 144,2 146,9 150,3 151,25 157,2 158,9 162,5 164,9 167,2 168,9  173 174,9
Melting point [K] 1193 1069 1204 1283 1353 1345 1095 1584 1633 1682 1743 1795 1818 1097 1929
Melting point [oC] 920 796 931 1010 1080 1072 822 1311 1360 1409 1470 1522 1545 824 1656
Melting point [oF] 1688 1464 1708 1850 1976 1962 1512 2392 2480 2568 2678 2772 2813 1515 3013
Boiling point [K]                             3675
Density [g/cm3] 6,16 6,77 6,48 7,00 7,22 7,54 5,25 7,89 8,25 8,56 8,78 9,05 9,32 6,97 9,84
Ionization energy [eV] 5,57 5,47 5,42 5,49 5,55 5,63 5,67 6,14 5,85 5,93 6,02 6,10 6,18 6,25 5,42
Electronegativitiy                




  1,27
Atomic radius [pm]                      

  1.74
Ionic radius [pm]                      

   
Oxidation numbers                      

  3
Lattice typ
Transformation temp. [oC]
                     
     
Lattice constant [Å]
(a or c)
                     
     
Young's - Modul us [GPa]                             69
Therm. expansion coefficient a
[10-6K-1]
                             
 
In case of doubt all numbers are for room temperatures
fcc = face centered cubic; lattice const. = a
bcc = body centered cubic
sc = simple cubic
hp = simple hexagonal
hcp = hexagonal close packed; lattice constants a and c.
op = simple orthorhombic, monoclinic, triclinic
tp = simple tetragonal
dia = diamond structure
r = trigonal or rhomboedral trigonal


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© H. Föll (Iron, Steel and Swords script)