Periodicity, lanthanides

The lanthanide and actinide elements are located at the bottom of the periodic table in two rows separate from the rest of the elements. By atomic number, they should be located in Periods 6 and 7, but they have special properties that distinguish them from elements in those periods. Lanthanides are very similar to each other and have some industrial uses. Many of the actinides were discovered as part of the first atomic bomb experiments. They are highly radioactive and have few uses. The transuranium elements were mostly created in the laboratory and are very short-lived. 

Elements measured Two-thirds of the periodic table transition metals, halogens, lanthanides, and platinum-group metals... 

There is no single best form of the periodic table since the choice depends on the purpose for which the table is used. Some forms emphasize chemical relations and valence, whereas others stress the electronic configuration of the elements or the dependence of the periods on the shells and subshells of the atomic structure. The most convenient form for our purpose is the so-called long form with separate panels for the lanthanide and actinide elements (see inside front cover). There has been a lively debate during the past decade as to the best numbering system to be used for the individual... 

The three series of elements arising from the filling of the 3d, 4d and 5d shells, and situated in the periodic table following the alkaline earth metals, are commonly described as transition elements , though this term is sometimes also extended to include the lanthanide and actinide (or inner transition) elements. They exhibit a number of characteristic properties which together distinguish them from other groups of elements ... 

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. 

Yttrium and lanthanum are both obtained from lanthanide minerals and the method of extraction depends on the particular mineral involved. Digestions with hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, or caustic soda are all used to extract the mixture of metal salts. Prior to the Second World War the separation of these mixtures was effected by fractional crystallizations, sometimes numbered in their thousands. However, during the period 1940-45 the main interest in separating these elements was in order to purify and characterize them more fully. The realization that they are also major constituents of the products of nuclear fission effected a dramatic sharpening of interest in the USA. As a result, ion-exchange techniques were developed and, together with selective complexation and solvent extraction, these have now completely supplanted the older methods of separation (p. 1228). In cases where the free metals are required, reduction of the trifluorides with metallic calcium can be used. 

The lanthanides comprise the largest naturally-occurring group in the periodic table. Their properties are so similar that from 1794, when J. Gadolin isolated yttria which he thought was the oxide of a single new element, until 1907, when lutetium was discovered, nearly a hundred claims were made for the discovery of elements... 

A contraction resulting from the filling of the 4f electron shell is of course not exceptional. Similar contractions occur in each row of the periodic table and, in the d block for instance, the ionic radii decrease by 20.5 pm from Sc to Cu , and by 15 pm from Y to Ag . The importance of the lanthanide contraction arises from its consequences ... 

The actinides ( actinons or actinoids ) are the fourteen elements from thorium to lawren-cium inclusive, which follow actinium in the periodic table. They are analogous to the lanthanides and result from the filling of the 5f orbitals, as the lanthanides result from the filling of the 4f. The position of actinium, like that of lanthanum, is somewhat equivocal and, although not itself an actinide, it is often included with them for comparative purposes. 

The redox behaviour of Th, Pa and U is of the kind expected for d-transition elements which is why, prior to the 1940s, these elements were commonly placed respectively in groups 4, 5 and 6 of the periodic table. Behaviour obviously like that of the lanthanides is not evident until the second half of the series. However, even the early actinides resemble the lanthanides in showing close similarities with each other and gradual variations in properties, providing comparisons are restricted to those properties which do not entail a change in oxidation state. The smooth variation with atomic number found for stability constants, for instance, is like that of the lanthanides rather than the d-transition elements, as is the smooth variation in ionic radii noted in Fig. 31.4. This last factor is responsible for the close similarity in the structures of many actinide and lanthanide compounds especially noticeable in the 4-3 oxidation state for which... 

Lanthanides Elements 57 (La) through 70 (Yb) in the periodic table, 146 Lanthanum, 147 Laser fusion, 528 Lattices in ionic crystals, 249 Lavoisier, Antoine, 14 Law of conservation of energy A natural law stating that energy can neither be created nor destroyed it can only be converted from one form to another, 214... 

The reason usually cited for the great similarity in the properties of the lanthanides is that they have similar electronic configurations in the outermost 6s and 5d orbitals. This occurs because, at this point in the periodic table, the added electrons begin to enter 4f orbitals which are fairly deep inside the atom. These orbitals are screened quite well from the outside by outer electrons, so changing the number of 4/electrons has almost no effect on the chemical properties of the atom. The added electrons do not become valence electrons in a chemical sense—neither are they readily shared nor are they readily removed. 

The a—time curves for the vacuum decomposition at 593—693 K of lanthanum oxalate [1098] are sigmoid. Following a short induction period (E = 164 kJ mole-1), the inflexion point occurred at a 0.15 and the Prout—Tompkins equation [eqn. (9)] was applied (E = 133 kJ mole-1). Young [29] has suggested, however, that a more appropriate analysis is that exponential behaviour [eqn. (8)] is followed by obedience to the contracting volume equation [eqn. (7), n = 3]. Similar kinetic characteristics were found [1098] for several other lanthanide oxalates and the sequence of relative stabilities established was Gd > Sm > Nd > La > Pr > Ce. The behaviour of europium(III) oxalate [1100] is exceptional in that Eu3+ is readily reduced... 

The atomic radii of the second row of d-metals (Period 5) are typically greater than those in the first row (Period 4). The atomic radii in the third row (Period 6), however, are about the same as those in the second row and smaller than expected. This effect is due to the lanthanide contraction, the decrease in radius along the first row of the / block (Fig. 16.4). This decrease is due to the increasing nuclear charge along the period coupled with the poor shielding ability of /-electrons. When the d block resumes (at lutetium), the atomic radius has fallen from 217 pm for barium to 173 pm for lutetium. 

A technologically important effect of the lanthanide contraction is the high density of the Period 6 elements (Fig. 16.5). The atomic radii of these elements are comparable to those of the Period 5 elements, but their atomic masses are about twice as large so more mass is packed into the same volume. A block of iridium, for example, contains about as many atoms as a block of rhodium of the same volume. However, each iridium atom is nearly twice as heavy as a rhodium atom, and so the density of the sample is nearly twice as great. In fact, iridium is one of the two densest elements its neighbor osmium is the other. Another effect of the contraction is the low reactivity—the nobility —of gold and platinum. Because their valence electrons are relatively close to the nucleus, they are tightly bound and not readily available for chemical reactions. 

The atomic radii of the d-block metals are similar but tend to decrease across a series. The lanthanide contraction accounts for the smaller than expected radii and higher densities of the d-block atoms in Period 6. 

Quaternary chalcogenides of the type A Ln M X, containing three metal elements from different blocks of the Periodic Table (A is an alkali or alkaline earth metal, Ln is an /-block lanthanide or scandium, M is a p-block main group or a r/-block transition metal, and X is S or Se) are also known [65]. 

Two principle strategies have been employed for the synthesis of siloxide-containing molecular precursors. The first involves a silanolysis, or condensation, reaction of the Si - OH groups with a metal amido, alkyl, hahde, or alkoxide complex. The second method involves salt metathesis reactions of an alkali metal siloxide with a metal hahde. Much of our work has been focused on formation of tris(tert-butoxy)siloxide derivatives of the early transition metals and main group elements. The largely imexplored regions of the periodic table include the lanthanides and later transition metals. 

Krebs, Robert E. The history and use of our earth s chemical elements a reference guide. Westport (CT) Greenwood P, 1998. ix, 346p. ISBN 0-313-30123-9 A short history of chemistry — Atomic structure The periodic table of the chemical elements — Alkali metals and alkali earth metals - Transition elements metals to nonmetals — Metallics and metalloids - Metalloids and nonmetals — Halogens and noble gases - Lanthanide series (rare-earth elements) — Actinide, transuranic, and transactinide series... 

As the atomic number increases, so does the positive charge of the nucleus, and the electrons are bound with a higher energy. However, this increase is not linear. For example, the electrons in the d orbital of the third shell have a higher energy than those in the s orbital of the fourth shell, and hence the latter are filled first. The consequence is the unexpected behavior of the first ten transition elements. In the case of the actinides and lanthanides, even more inner orbitals are occupied. Nature is not so simple, but the scheme should help to visualize this complex structure. And if one can assign the electrons of an element, one is a step closer to successfully unraveling the mysteries of the Periodic Table. 

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