Erbium

Element Name: Erbium
Atomic Number: 68
Atomic Mass: 167.259
Atomic Symbol: Er
Melting Point: 1529° C
Boiling Point: 2868° C

Erbium is a bright silver-white rare earth metal. It is also soft and malleable – all of which are common traits for rare earth elements. If placed in air it will tarnish, and it reacts in water and acids. It does react as quickly in air as other rare earth elements. It’s usually trivalent (3+) when forming compounds. Like many rare earth elements, Erbium’s salts are brightly colored and in this instance it manifests in a rose-pink color. Erbium naturally occurs in 6 isotopes of varying abundances; Erbium-166 is the most common and makes up around one-third of all naturally occurring erbium. 29 other radioisotopes have been identified.

Interesting Facts:

Carl Gustaf Mosander discovered erbium by analyzing gadolinite and separating it into yttria, erbia, and terbia. Erbium and terbium, as Mosander discovered them, switched names by 1877. For a period between 1860 and 1877 both elements were known as erbia. Erbium-nickel and Erbium-Ytterbium-nickel alloys have a high specific heat capacity at extremely low temperatures, are thus are used in cryocoolers. In optical communications erbium is used a dopant in silica glass fibers. This substance can be used to make fiber lasers. Erbium is an excellent fiber amplifier since it can store a large amount of energy until specific wavelengths disperse this energy (in the form of lasers, typically).

Sources:

Erbium is never found as a free element in nature. It is, however, found in several minerals. Gadolinite, euxenite, xenotime, fergusonite, polycrase, blomstradine, monazite, and bastnasite all contain varying amounts of erbium among several other rare earth elements. The yttrium-rich clays of southern china also contain a lot of erbium oxide. By weight, nearly 2/3 of the clay is yttrium, and another 4-5% is erbium oxide. It is found in the relatively low quantity of 3 parts per million.

 

Industrial Uses:

Erbium is a good neutron absorber, so it is used in nuclear control rods. When combined with vanadium it increases the pliability of the metal but lowers the hardness. With the increase in production from China it became viable to use erbium oxide as a color additive in glass, porcelain, and cubic zirconia; it’s sometimes used in cheap jewelry and sunglasses. In medicine erbium is used for its laser properties. It has an emission at a wavelength of 2940nm, which is readily absorbed in water. In dermatology and dentistry this is important because you can make shallow cuts or produce steam when removing enamel.

References:

“Facts About Erbium.” Livescience. Livescience.com, 23 July 2013. Web. 26 July
2016.
“Erbium.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 26 July 2016.
“Erbium Element Facts / Chemistry.” Chemicool. Chemicool.com, 5 Oct. 2012.
Web. 26 July 2016.
Gray, Theodore W., and Nick Mann. The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every
Known Atom in the Universe. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2009. Print.