Chemical data for Gd - Gadolinium | PhysLink.com

Gadolinium

 Gadolinium 
Gd
Atomic Number: 64
Atomic Weight: 157.25
Element Type: Rare Earth Metal
Crystal Structure: Hexagonal
Melting Point: 1313.0°C = 2395.4°F = 1586.15 K
Boiling Point: 3273.0°C = 5923.4°F = 3546.15 K
Critical Temp: °C = °F = K
Atomic Radius: 2.54 Å (Å = Angstrom = 10-10 m)
Covalent Radius: 1.61 Å
Electronegativity: 1.2

History

From gadolinite, a mineral named for Gadolin, a Finnish chemist. The rare earth metalis obtained from the mineral gadolinite. Gadolinia, the oxide of gadolinium, wasseparated by Marignac in 1880 and Lecoq de Boisbaudran independently isolated it fromMosander's yttria in 1886.


Sources

Gadolinium is found in several other minerals, including monazite and bastnasite, bothof which are commercially important. With the development of ion-exchange and solventextraction techniques, the availability and prices of gadolinium and the other rare-earthmetals have greatly improved. The metal can be prepared by the reduction of the anhydrousfluoride with metallic calcium.