Samarium 946 samarskite

Samarium (Sm, [Xe]4/66.r). Name and symbol after the mineral samarskite. Discovered (1879) by Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran. 

Samarium - the atomic number is 62 and the chemical symbol is Sm. The name derives from the mineral Samarskite, in which it was found and which had been named for Colonel von Samarski , a Russian mine official. It was originally discovered in 1878 by the Swiss chemist Marc Delafontaine, who called it decipium. It was also discovered by the French chemist Paul-Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran in 1879. In 1881, Delafontaine determined that his decipium could be resolved into two elements, one of which was identical to Boisbaudran s samarium. In 1901, the French chemist Eugene-Anatole Demar9ay showed that this samarium earth also contained europium. 

Samarium is the 39th most abundant element in the Earths crust and the fifth in abundance (6.5 ppm) of all the rare-earths. In 1879 samarium was first identified in the mineral samarskite [(Y, Ce U, Fe) (Nb, Ta, Ti )Ojg]. Today, it is mostly produced by the ion-exchange process from monazite sand. Monazite sand contains almost all the rare-earths, 2.8% of which is samarium. It is also found in the minerals gadolmite, cerite, and samarskite in South Africa, South America, Australia, and the southeastern United States. It can be recovered as a byproduct of the fission process in nuclear reactors. 

Using a spectrometer in 1853, Jean Charles-GaUisard de Marignac (1817—1894) suspected that dydimia was a mixture of yet-to-be-discovered elements. However, it was not until 1879 that Paul-Emile Locoq de Boisbaudran (1838—1912), using a difficult chemical fractionation process, discovered samarium in a sample of samarskite, calling it samarium after the mineral, which was named for a Russian mine official. Colonel von Samarski. Samarskite ore is found where didymia is found. Didymia ( twins ) was the original name given to a combination of the two rare-earths (praseodymium and neodymium) before they were separated and identified. 

Mosander extracted from the mineral lanthana a rare earth fraction, named didymia in 1841. In 1879, Boisbaudran separated a rare earth oxide called samaria (samarium oxide) from the didymia fraction obtained from the mineral samarskite. Soon after that in 1885, Baron Auer von Welsbach isolated two other rare earths from didymia. He named them as praseodymia (green twin) and neodymia (new twin) after their source didymia (twin). The name praseodymium finally was assigned to this new element, derived from the two Greek words, prasios meaning green and didymos meaning twin. 

The discovery of samarium is credited to Boisbaudran, who in 1879 separated its oxide, samaria from Mosander s didymia, the mixture of rare earth oxides from which cerium and lanthanum were isolated earher. Demarcay in 1901 first identified samaria to be a mixture of samarium and europium oxides. The element got its name from its mineral, samarskite. The mineral, in turn, was named in honor of the Russian mine official Col. Samarki. 

Samarium Sm 62 RE.Lecoq de Boisbaudran France From a mineral Samarskite"... 

As with other rare earth elements, the primary sources of samarium are the mineral monazite and bastnasite. It is also found in samarskite, cerite, orthite, ytterbite, and fluorspar. 

Samarium is named after the mineral samarskite, from which the first traces were found. The history of its discovery is very convoluted, and it is part of the complex yttria group. The first suggestion of a new element came in 1846, but it was not until 1878 that J. Lawrence Smith (1818-1883) announced a new element he called mosandrum. His discovery was disputed, and, in 1879, Francois Lecoq de Boisbaudran named it samaria, which was later changed to samarium. The whitish-silver element does not occur in elemental form in nature. It has been used in lighting systems and also as part of rare-earths magnets, in lasers, in infrared absorbing glass, and in nuclear reactors as a neutron buffer. 

Sm samarium, 62, 1879 from samarskite," a mineral named after a Russian mining official, Col. Samarski. 

Samarium Sm 62 150.4 1879 Fecoq de Boisbaurdran (Fr.) Samarskite, after Samarski, a Russian engineer... 

Sm Samarium After the mineral samarskite, in turn named after Vasili Samarsky-Bykhovets (1803-1870), discoverer of samarskite... 

By some reports gadolinium was the first element named for a person, but it was probably really named for the mineral that contained gadolinia, and the mineral was named for Johan Gadolin. By the same token samarium was named for the mineral samarskite, which had been named in honor of a Russian mine official. Colonel Samarski. It is difficult therefore to assert that the name gadolinium was meant to immortalize the chemist any more than the name samarium was meant to immortalize military personnel. What was unique about samarium however was its discovery using a new analytical technique spectroscopy. 

In his opinion, a new previously unknown element contained in didymium was responsible for the appearance of the new lines in the spectrum. He named it decipium from the Latin to deceive, to stupefy and the name proved to be ironical decipium turned out to be a mixture of several REEs both known and unknown ones. Decipium was debunked in 1879 by L. de Boisbaudran of France who played a prominent role in the discovery of new REEs. In the next chapter we shall tell you how he discovered gallium predicted by Mendeleev. Boisbaudran extracted didymium from samarskite and thoroughly studied the sample by spectroscopy. Boisbaudran was a much more skillful experimenter than Delafontaine and he succeeded in separating the impurity from didymium . He named the new element samarium after samarskite, being unaware that samarium was also a mixture of elements. Boisbaudran s discovery was immediately confirmed by Marignac who, after multiple recrystallizations of samarium , separated two fractions which he marked Y and Yp (not to be confused with the symbol of yttrium Y ). The spectrum of the second fraction was identical to the spectrum of samarium . As to the first fraction, we shall have a look at it a little later. 

Samarium (after the mineral samarskite) 1879 P.-E. Lecoq de Boisbaudran, Paris (France)... 

Samarium P. Lecoq de Boisboudran (French) (1879) Samarskite, a mineral. The mineral was named for a Russian mining official Col. Samarski... 

Two elements among the 92 have names that are connected with personal names, even if indirectly. The rare earth metal gadolinium got its name from the mineral gadolinite, and thus indirectly from the Finnish chemist Johan GadoHn. The Russian colonel and engineer E. Samarskii-Bykhovets discovered a mineral that was given the name samarskite. A rare earth metal found in this mineral was named samarium after the mineral. 

Discovery Paul-Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran in Paris discovered a new element in didymium in 1879. He gave it the name samarium after the mineral samarskite. 

In 1878 Delafontaine made an important observation. He isolated didymium both from cerite and from the mineral samarskite . Absorption spectra obtained during examination of the two didymium samples were different. To Delafontaine this was an indication that didymium was not a homogenous element This interested Bois-baudran in France. Unlike Delafontaine he used emission and not absorption spectroscopy. He found Hnes showing the presence of a previously unknown element In 1879 he announced the discovery with the information that its name was samarium after the mineral. 

Marignac in 1880 also examined the mineral samarskite. Fractional precipitation using potassium sulfate and oxalate gave two different elements. He thought that both were new. Soret analyzed both fractions spectroscopically. He observed that one element was samarium but the other was previously unknown. In 1886 Marignac named it gadolinium after the mineral gadolinite. 

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