Dysprosium (Dy) is a hard silvery metal with an atomic number (Z) of 66, electronic configuration of [Xe]4f105d06s2, atomic weight of 162.50 and melting point of 1685 K. It is a group IIIB inner transition element and one of the lanthanide and rare earth elements. Dysprosium has seven natural isotopes, 156Dy (0.052%), 158Dy, (0.090%), 160Dy (2.29%), 161Dy (18.88%), 162Dy (25.53%), 163Dy (24.97%) and 164Dy (28.18%). The isotope 15+Dy is radioactive with a half life (T 1/2) of 2 × 1014 years. Discovered in 1886, Dy is named from the Greek dysprositos (difficult to access) and is used in magnetic alloys and for neutron absorption in nuclear reactors.
Dysprosium is typically a trace element in most rocks and minerals. It is refractory and under most conditions is lithophile and found in the trivalent state. The major importance of Dy in geochemistry is that it is one of the smaller trivalent rare earth elements (or lanthanides), among the most useful trace elements in all areas of...
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© 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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McLennan, S.M. (1998). Dysprosium . In: Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4496-8_80
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4496-8_80
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