10 Interesting Facts about Thulium

Post On: November 24, 2018

Facts about Thulium discuss about the chemical element with the lanthanide series. It has the symbol Tm. The pure sample of thulium was taken for the first time in 1911. You are wrong if you think that thulium is easy to get. In the list of lanthanides, it is considered as the second least abundant element. Have you realized the characteristics of thulium? When it is exposed to the air, it will tarnish slowly. Moreover, the element has soft texture. It has bright silver gray color. Due to its rarity, Thulium is sold in high price.

Facts about Thulium 1: the uses

Even though Thallium is rare, it has been used for a number of purposes. Thulium is applied in several solid-state lasers.

Facts about Thulium 2: the soft texture

As I have stated before, Thulium has soft texture. Therefore, it is easier for you to cut it using a knife. It is characterized as a ductile and malleable element. It has 2 or 3 scale in Mohs hardness.

Thulium

Thulium

Facts about Thulium 3: magnetism

Thulium is paramagnetic when it is above 56 K. If the thulium is between 32 K and 56 K, it has anteferromagentic feature. The ferromagnetic feature is spotted when thulium is below 32 K.

See Also: 10 Facts about Thallium

Facts about Thulium 4: the only oxide

Tm2O3 is considered as the only known oxide of Thulium. People usually call it thulia.

Facts about Thulium 5: the isotopes

The most abundant isotope thulium is Thulium-169. It also has the longest-lived one. The second and third longest-lived isotopes of Thulium are thulium-171 and thulium-170.

Thulium Facts

Thulium Facts

Facts about Thulium 6: the discovery

Per Teodor Cleve was the Swedish chemist who discovered Thulium in 1879. He looked for the impurities to find thulium. In his experiment, he found two new substances. They were in green and brown tones. The green was the oxide of unidentified element. The brown one was the oxide of holmium. The new oxide was named by Cleve as thulia.

See Also: 10 Facts about Ruthenium

Facts about Thulium 7: Charles James

Charles James worked at New Hampshire in Durham as a British expatriate. He was the first person who could get nearly pure thulium. It is very difficult to get the pure one.

Facts about Thulium 8: the commercial offering

The first commercial offering for the high level of pure thulium took place in the end of 1950s.

Facts about Thulium

Facts about Thulium

Facts about Thulium 9: the price of Thulium

As I have stated before, Thulium has expensive price. In the period of 1959 until 1998, it was sold between US$4,600 and $13,300 for 99.99 percent pure thulium.

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Facts about Thulium 10: the occurrence on earth

Pure thulium is not present on earth. It can be found on some rare earths and minerals in a very small quantity.

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