Gadolinite scandium

The element was discovered by Nilson in 1878 in the minerals euxenite and gadolinite, which had not yet been found anywhere except in Scandinavia. By processing 10 kg of euxenite and other residues of rare-earth minerals, Nilson was able to prepare about 2g of highly pure scandium oxide. Later scientists pointed out that Nilson s scandium was idenhcal with Mendeleev s ekaboron. 

Scandium is very widely but thinly distributed and its only rich mineral is the rare thortveitite, Sc2Si20v (p. 348), found in Norway, but since scandium has only small-scale commercial use, and can be obtained as a byproduct in the extraction of other materials, this is not a critical problem. Yttrium and lanthanum are invariably associated with lanthanide elements, the former (Y) with the heavier or Yttrium group lanthanides in minerals such as xenotime, M "P04 and gadolinite, M M SijOio (M = Fe, Be), and the latter (La) with the lighter or cerium group lanthanides in minerals such as monazite, M P04 and bastnaesite, M C03F. This association of similar metals is a reflection of their ionic radii. While La is similar in size to the early lanthanides which immediately follow it in the periodic table, Y , because of the steady fall in ionic radius along the lanthanide series (p. 1234), is more akin to the later lanthanides. 

Scandium is thought to occur in more than 800 different minerals. Its most important ores are the minerals thortveitite and wolframite. It is also found in minerals containing other rare earth elements, such as monazite, bastnasite, and gadolinite. 

The name is derived from the Latin Scandia, the name of Scandinavia. Mendeleev predicted the existence of the element as eka-boron. It was discovered by Lars Fredrick Nilson (1840-1899) in 1878 when he was investigating trace elements in euxenite and gadolinite. Metallic scandium was first prepared in 1937. Spectroscopic analysis has shown that scandium is present in the sun and other stars. Blue beryl may be colored because of scandium. The silvery metallic element is used in high-intensity lighting. 

Cdtium was isolated from the soluble end of a series from gadolinite by fractional crystallization of the nitrates in nitric add. Its compounds have properties intermediate between those of scandium and lutecium. Its atomic weight has not been determined, but the atomic number 72 has been assigned to this element. The discovery of hafnium, a close relative of... 

Most of the rare earth elements were discovered in the mineral gadolinite, (Ce,La, Nd,Y)2FeBe2Si20io (Mindat.Org) from Ytterby. The town has given name to yttrium, ytterbium, terbium, and erbium. Other elements discovered here are gadolinium, holmium, thulium, scandium, lutetium, and tantalum (Source Mindat.org). 

Cleve PT (1879) Sur Le Scandium. Comptes rendus hebd seances acad sci, Paris 89 419-422 de Marignac JG (1878) Sur I ytterbine, nouvelle terre contenue dans la gadolinite. Comptes rendus hebd seances acad sci, Paris 78 578-581... 

The quality of the analytical performance cannot be demonstrated better than by the quantitative control investigation performed in the same year by Cleve starting from 4 kg gadolinite mineral he obtained 0.8 g scandium oxide (Cleve 1879a). 

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