Carl Axel Arrhenius
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Carl Axel Arrhenius was a Swedish military officer, amateur geologist, and chemist. He is best known for his discovery of the mineral ytterbite in 1787.
Carl Axel Arrhenius crop
A sample of ytterbite (later named gadolinite) from Vaxholm
Rare-earth element
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The rare-earth elements, also called rare-earth metals, or rare earths, are a set of 17 nearly indistinguishable lustrous silvery-white soft heavy metals. The 15 lanthanides, along with scandium, and
Carl Axel Arrhenius
…later called gadolinite) in 1787. The discovery of ytterbite was the first step in identifying an entire group of previously unknown elements, the rare earths. Eight stable rare earth elements were eventually extracted from ytterbite: terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, and…
Rare-earth ore (shown with a 19 mm diameter US 1 cent coin for size comparison)
Refined rare-earth oxides are heavy, gritty powders usually brown or black, but can be lighter colors as shown here. Back row: gadolinium · praseodymium · cerium Middle row: samarium · lanthanum Front: neodymium