Natural Ytterbium is a mixture of seven isotopes namely 168Yb Ytterbium is a chemical element with the symbol Yb and atomic number 70. It is the fourteenth and penultimate element in the lanthanide series, which is the basis of the relative stability of its +2 oxidation state. However, like the other lanthanides, its most common oxidation state is … Xenotime is a rare-earth phosphate mineral, the major component of which is yttrium orthophosphate. It forms a solid solution series with chernovite and therefore may contain trace impurities of arsenic, as well as silicon dioxide and calcium. The rare-earth elements dysprosium, er…Ytterbium
Xenotime
Is ytterbium a metal or nonmetal?
Ytterbium is a bright, soft, silvery-white metal that is both ductile and malleable. It is a one of the rare earth metals. The metal tarnishes quickly in air and reacts slowly with water. Furthermore, what is yttrium used for?
What is ytterbium used for?
Ytterbium is beginning to find a variety of uses, such as in memory devices and tuneable lasers. It can also be used as an industrial catalyst and is increasingly being used to replace other catalysts considered to be too toxic and polluting. Ytterbium has no known biological role. It has low toxicity.
What does ytterbium mean?
Ytterbium meaning ĭ-tûrbē-əm Meanings Synonyms Sentences A soft, bright, silvery rare-earth element occurring in three allotropic forms and used as an x-ray source for portable irradiation devices, as a dopant for laser materials, and in solar cells and some special alloys.
Is a ytterbium luster or dull?
Ytterbium is a soft, malleable and rather ductile element that exhibits a bright silvery luster. A rare earth, the element is easily attacked and dissolved by mineral acids, slowly reacts with water, and oxidizes in air. The oxide forms a protective layer on the surface. Compounds of ytterbium are rare.
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What is ytterbium found in?
1878Ytterbium / Discovered
What is made out of ytterbium?
Ytterbium has few uses. It can be alloyed with stainless steel to improve some of its mechanical properties and used as a doping agent in fiber optic cable where it can be used as an amplifier. One of ytterbium's isotopes is being considered as a radiation source for portable X-ray machines.
What things are made of yttrium?
Yttrium is often used as an additive in alloys. It increases the strength of aluminium and magnesium alloys. It is also used in the making of microwave filters for radar and has been used as a catalyst in ethene polymerisation. Yttrium-aluminium garnet (YAG) is used in lasers that can cut through metals.
What are some common compounds of ytterbium?
Ytterbium forms compounds with the halogens found in group 17 of the periodic table: fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and iodine. These compounds have a variety of uses.
Where is ytterbium found naturally?
Natural abundance In common with many lanthanide elements, ytterbium is found principally in the mineral monazite. It can be extracted by ion exchange and solvent extraction.
What is ytterbium used in?
Uses of Ytterbium It is used as a doping agent to improve the strength, grain refinement and mechanical properties of stainless steel. It also acts as an industrial catalyst. Few alloys of Ytterbium are used in dentistry.
Is yttrium toxic to humans?
Yttrium is mostly dangerous in the working environment, due to the fact that damps and gasses can be inhaled with air. This can cause lung embolisms, especially during long-term exposure. Yttrium can also cause cancer with humans, as it enlarges the chances of lung cancer when it is inhaled.
Where is yttrium found in nature?
Yttrium is found in most rare-earth minerals, it is found in some uranium ores, but is never found in the Earth's crust as a free element. About 31 ppm of the Earth's crust is yttrium, making it the 28th most abundant element, 400 times more common than silver.
What is the difference between yttrium and ytterbium?
Summary – Yttrium vs Ytterbium Yttrium is a chemical element having the symbol Y and atomic number 39, while Ytterbium is a chemical element having the symbol Yb and atomic number 70. The key difference between Yttrium and Ytterbium is that natural yttrium is non-radioactive, whereas ytterbium is usually radioactive.
How is ytterbium used in everyday life?
Ytterbium has few uses. It can be alloyed with stainless steel to improve some of its mechanical properties and used as a doping agent in fiber optic cable. One of ytterbium's isotopes is being considered as a radiation source for portable X-ray machines.
Is ytterbium toxic to humans?
Health effects of ytterbium Ytterbium is a skin and eye irritant and it is also a suspected teratogen. All compounds should be stored in closed containers, protected from air and moisture and treated as highly toxic.
What type of metal is ytterbium?
rare-earth metalytterbium (Yb), chemical element, a rare-earth metal of the lanthanide series of the periodic table. Ytterbium is the most volatile rare-earth metal.
What does yttrium taste like?
We conducted a private sommelier session with yttrium chloride and can report the salt to possess a pleasant tart taste, but not sweet.
Is yttrium a rare-earth metal?
Scandium and yttrium are considered rare earth elements since they tend to occur in the same ore deposits as the lanthanides and exhibit similar chemical properties. While named rare earths, they are in fact not that rare and are relatively abundant in the Earth's crust.
What are some fun facts about yttrium?
Yttrium:Yttrium: Yttrium is a soft silver-metallic element.Fun fact about Yttrium: Yttrium is named after the Swedish village of Ytterby, which has a nearby quarry containing quartz and feldspar, among other minerals.Chemical symbol: Y.Atomic number: 39.
How is yttrium used in lasers?
Single crystal, yttrium-aluminum-garnet (YAG, Y3Al5O12) is one of the most widely used laser materials available to date. Optically transparent single crystal YAG is used as optical-host materials in various solid-state lasers for its outstanding optical properties, when doped with different transition elements.
What is special about ytterbium?
Unlike most lanthanide or rare earth elements (REE) that exist as trivalent ions (i.e., ions with a positive electrostatic charge of +3) in compoun...
What is Yb on the periodic table?
Yb stands for the element ytterbium on the periodic table. Ytterbium is located at the far end of the periodic table's lanthanide series (row 6). T...
Is ytterbium a rare metal?
Out of the 118 elements on the periodic table, ytterbium is estimated to be the 44th most abundant element in the earth's crust. It is rare relati...
What is ytterbium used for?
Ytterbium has several important industrial uses. Its main purpose involves adding it to other materials for use in optical devices and sensors. The...
Question 1: What is Ytterbium Used for?
Ans: There are just a few applications for ytterbium. It can be alloyed with stainless steel to enhance mechanical properties, and it can also be u...
Question 2: Is Ytterbium a Dangerous Element?
Ans: While studies tend to suggest that the danger is limited, all ytterbium compounds are treated as highly toxic. However, ytterbium compounds ir...
Question 3: What is the Appearance of Ytterbium?
Ans: Ytterbium is a bright, smooth, silvery-white metal with ductile and malleable properties. It's a metal that belongs to the rare earth family....
How much ytterbium is produced in the world?
The world production of ytterbium is only about 50 tonnes per year , reflecting that it has few commercial applications. Microscopic traces of ytterbium are used as a dopant in the Yb:YAG laser, a solid-state laser in which ytterbium is the element that undergoes stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation.
What is the color of ytterbium?
Ytterbium metal tarnishes slowly in air, taking on a golden or brown hue. Finely dispersed ytterbium readily oxidizes in air and under oxygen. Mixtures of powdered ytterbium with polytetrafluoroethylene or hexachloroethane burn with a luminous emerald-green flame. Ytterbium reacts with hydrogen to form various non-stoichiometric hydrides. Ytterbium dissolves slowly in water, but quickly in acids, liberating hydrogen gas.
How many radioactive isotopes are in ytterbium?
Natural ytterbium is composed of seven stable isotopes: 168 Yb, 170 Yb, 171 Yb, 172 Yb, 173 Yb, 174 Yb, and 176 Yb, with 174 Yb being the most common, at 31.8% of the natural abundance ). 27 radioisotopes have been observed, with the most stable ones being 169 Yb with a half-life of 32.0 days, 175 Yb with a half-life of 4.18 days, and 166 Yb with a half-life of 56.7 hours. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than two hours, and most of these have half-lives under 20 minutes. Ytterbium also has 12 meta states, with the most stable being 169m Yb ( t1/2 46 seconds).
What is the oxidation state of ytterbium?
However, like the other lanthanides, its most common oxidation state is +3, as in its oxide, halides, and other compounds. In aqueous solution, like compounds of other late lanthanides, soluble ytterbium compounds form complexes with nine water molecules.
How does ytterbium react with water?
Ytterbium dissolves slowly in water, but quickly in acids, liberating hydrogen gas. Ytterbium is quite electropositive, and it reacts slowly with cold water and quite quickly with hot water to form ytterbium (III) hydroxide: 2 Yb (s) + 6 H 2 O (l) → 2 Yb (OH) 3 (aq) + 3 H 2 (g) Ytterbium reacts with all the halogens:
What is the atomic number of Ytterbium?
Ytterbium is a chemical element with the symbol Yb and atomic number 70. It is the fourteenth and penultimate element in the lanthanide series, which is the basis of the relative stability of its +2 oxidation state. However, like the other lanthanides, its most common oxidation state is +3, as in its oxide, halides, and other compounds.
Where is ytterbium found?
It is most often recovered commercially from monazite sand (0.03% ytterbium). The element is also found in euxenite and xenotime. The main mining areas are China, the United States, Brazil, India, Sri Lanka, and Australia.
How is ytterbium separated from other elements?
Ytterbium is separated from the other rare-earth elements by solvent-solvent extraction or ion-exchange techniques. The elemental metal is prepared by the metallothermic reduction of its oxide, Yb 2 O 3, with lanthanum metal, followed by a vacuum distillation to further purify the metal.
What are the elements in Marignac?
The elements are now known as ytterbium and lutetium. Ytterbium is among the less-abundant rare earths.
What is Yb in encyclopedia?
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Ytterbium (Yb), chemical element, a rare-earth metal of the lanthanide series of the periodic table. The periodic table is made up of 118 elements.
Which metal has a high vapour pressure?
The divalent metals europium and ytterbium have high vapour pressures—or lower boiling points than the other rare-earth elements, as can be seen when they are plotted versus atomic number—which makes it difficult to prepare them by the metallothermic or electrolytic methods. Samarium…
Why is ytterbium used in pressure sensors?
The metal is used in pressure sensors because its electrical resistivity is strongly pressure-dependent. Ytterbium, like europium, is a divalent metal.
What is Yb in the periodic table?
ytterbium (Yb), chemical element, a rare-earth metal of the lanthanide series of the periodic table.
Which metal has the lowest magnetic susceptibility?
Ytterbium is weakly paramagnetic, having the lowest magnetic susceptibility of all the rare-earth metals. The first concentrate of ytterbium was obtained in 1878 by Swiss chemist Jean-Charles Galissard de Marignac and named by him for the town of Ytterby, Sweden, where it (and the first discovered rare-earth element, yttrium) was found.
What is ytterbium used for?
Uses. Ytterbium is beginning to find a variety of uses, such as in memory devices and tuneable lasers. It can also be used as an industrial catalyst and is increasingly being used to replace other catalysts considered to be too toxic and polluting.
When was ytterbium discovered?
Ytterbium was isolated in 1878 by Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac at the University of Geneva. The story began with yttrium, discovered in 1794, which was contaminated with other rare-earth elements (aka lanthanoids). In 1843, erbium and terbium were extracted from it, and then in 1878, de Marignac separated ytterbium from erbium. He heated erbium nitrate until it decomposed and then extracted the residue with water and obtained two oxides: a red one which was erbium oxide, and a white one which he knew must be a new element, and this he named ytterbium. Even this was eventually shown to contain another rare earth, lutetium, in 1907.
Where is ytterbium found?
In common with many lanthanide elements, ytterbium is found principally in the mineral monazite. It can be extracted by ion exchange and solvent extraction.
What is the risk index for supply?
An integrated supply risk index from 1 (very low risk) to 10 (very high risk). This is calculated by combining the scores for crustal abundance, reserve distribution, production concentration, substitutability, recycling rate and political stability scores.
What is density in science?
Density is the mass of a substance that would fill 1 cm 3 at room temperature. Relative atomic mass. The mass of an atom relative to that of carbon-12. This is approximately the sum of the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus.
Is ytterbium oxide rare?
In fact, Marignac's ytterbium oxide was not of a pure form either and a few years later in 1907, George Urbain extracted lutetium as its oxide from this ytterbium oxide. Ytterbium is one of the more common lanthanide elements, and is not at all rare as its group name of the rare earths may suggest.
How are elements organized into blocks?
Elements are organised into blocks by the orbital type in which the outer electrons are found. These blocks are named for the characteristic spectra they produce: sharp (s), principal (p), diffuse (d), and fundamental (f). The number of protons in an atom.
What is Ytterbium?
The chemical element ytterbium has the symbol Yb and atomic number 70. It is the fourteenth and penultimate element in the lanthanide sequence, and its +2 oxidation state is the basis for its relative stability. Its most common oxidation state, like that of the other lanthanides, is +3, as seen in its oxide, halides, and other compounds. Soluble ytterbium compounds form complexes with nine water molecules in an aqueous solution, similar to other late lanthanide compounds. Its density, melting, and boiling points vary greatly from those of most other lanthanides due to its closed-shell electron structure.
What is ytterbium hydroxide?
Ytterbium is an electropositive metal that forms ytterbium (III) hydroxide when it reacts slowly with cold water and rapidly with hot water.
What is the name of the metal that reacts with water to form ytterbium hydroxide?
Ytterbium is an electropositive silvery-white metal that reacts with water to form ytterbium hydroxide.
How long does 169YB last?
The 169Yb isotope (half-life 32 days) has been used as a radiation source in portable X-ray machines, along with the short-lived 175Yb isotope (half-life 4.2 days) produced by neutron activation during the irradiation of ytterbium in nuclear reactors. The gamma rays released by the source, like X-rays, pass through the body's soft tissues but are blocked by bones and other dense materials.
Which clock has the highest level of stability?
Ytterbium clocks have the highest level of stability, with ticks that are fewer than two sections of one quintillion. Around 10,000 rare-earth atoms are cooled to 10 microkelvins (10 millionths of a degree above absolute zero) and trapped in an optical lattice—a sequence of pancake-shaped wells made of laser light—in the clocks built at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Another laser, which "ticks" 518 trillion times a second, causes a change in the atoms' energy levels. The high stability of the clocks is due to a large number of atoms.
Is ytterbium dust toxic?
Ans: While studies tend to suggest that the danger is limited, all ytterbium compounds are treated as highly toxic. However, ytterbium compounds irritate the skin and eyes of humans, and some of them may be teratogenic. Metallic ytterbium dust will spontaneously combust, releasing dangerous fumes.
Is ytterbium a paramagnetic metal?
At temperatures above 1.0 kelvin, ytterbium is paramagnetic, unlike the other rare-earth metals, which have antiferromagnetic and/or ferromagnetic properties at low temperatures. The alpha allotrope, on the other hand, is diamagnetic. Ytterbium has the lowest liquid range of all the metals, with a melting point of 824 °C and a boiling point of 1196 °C.
What is Ytterbium?
Ytterbium is an element of the periodic table with an atomic number of 70, discovered by Jean de Marignac in the year 1878. The element is named after Ytterby, Sweden.
What temperature does ytterbium have?
Usually, elements will have ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic properties at low temperatures but it is paramagnetic at a temperature of 0.1 Kelvin.
What is the name of the metal that reacts with water to form ytterbium hydroxide?
Ytterbium, a silvery white metal is electropositive which reacts with water to form ytterbium hydroxide.
What are the elements of ytterbium?
He called them neoytterbia and lutecia. The elements are now known as ytterbium and lutetium. [See Periodic Table of the Elements] Two grams of ultrapure ytterbium, about 1 x 1.5 centimeters. (Image credit: Images of elements)
What is ytterbium used for?
Ytterbium has few uses. It can be alloyed with stainless steel to improve some of its mechanical properties and used as a doping agent in fiber optic cable. One of ytterbium's isotopes is being considered as a radiation source for portable X-ray machines.
Where does ytterbium come from?
Ytterbium occurs along with other rare earths in a number of rare minerals. It is commercially recovered principally from monazite sand, which contains about 0.03 percent. Ion-exchange and solvent extraction techniques have simplified the separation of the rare earths from one another.
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Where did the name Ytterby come from?
Word origin: Ytterby, a Swedish village, is the origin of the name ytterbium. This small town, near Stockholm, also had a hand in naming erbium, terbium and yttrium. Discovery: In 1878, Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac, a Swedish chemist, discovered a new component, which he called ytterbia, in the earth then known as erbia.
Is ytterbium a lanthanide?
Ytterbium has a bright silvery luster, is soft, malleable, and quite ductile. One of the lanthanides, it is fairly stable in air but is readily attacked and dissolved by dilute and concentrated mineral acids and reacts slowly with water.
What element was Marignac's erbia?
Marignac reported the elemental analysis of a sample called erbia in 1878 (isolated from yttria), saying it consisted of two elements he called erbium and ytterbium. In 1879, Nilson announced Marignac's ytterbium was not a single element, but a mixture of two elements he called scandium and ytterbium. In 1907, Urbain announced Nilson's ytterbium ...
What are rare earths?
Today, rare earths are common in everyday products, particularly in monitors and electronics. Ytterbium was one of the elements isolated from the mineral yttria. These elements derive their names from Ytterby (e.g., Yttrium, Ytterbium, Terbium, Erbium ).
Why is ytterbium stored in sealed containers?
It is more reactive than the other lanthanide elements, so it is generally stored in sealed containers to keep it from reacting with oxygen and water in air. The finely powdered metal will ignite in air. Ytterbium is the 44th most abundant element in the Earth's crust.
How many names does ytterbium have?
Ytterbium went by at least four names, including ytterbium, ytterbia, erbia, and neoytterbia, when it wasn't altogether confused with another element.
What is the YB element?
Yb Element Facts. Dr. Helmenstine holds a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences and is a science writer, educator, and consultant. She has taught science courses at the high school, college, and graduate levels. Ytterbium is element number 70 with an element symbol Yb. This silver-colored rare earth element is one of several elements discovered ...
When was ytterbium added to stainless steel?
Relatively pure ytterbium was not isolated until 1937. A high purity specimen of the element wasn't made until 1953. Uses of ytterbium include use as a radiation source for x-ray machines. It is added to stainless steel to improve its mechanical properties. It may be added as a doping agent to fiber optic cable.
What is the most stable radioisotope?
The most stable radioisotope is ytterbium-169, which has a half-life of 32.0 days. Ytterbium also displays 12 meta states, with the most stable being ytterbium-169m, with a half life of 46 seconds.
What element was named after Ytterby?
He was analyzing the samples of gadolinite when he found new element and named it ytterbia after Ytterby the Swedish village. He also heated erbium nitrate until decomposed and named the resultant white powder ytterbium oxide. In 1907, Georges Urbain separated ytterbia into two components neoytterbia and lutecia.
What is lutecia called?
Neoytterbia later called ytterbium and lutecia was known as lutetium. In the same time, Carl Auer von Welsbach independently carried out research, but he called new element aldebaranium and cassiopeium. In 1937, first ytterbium metal was made by Klemm and Bonner by heating ytterbium chloride and potassium together.
What is ytterbium tarnished?
Ytterbium is tarnished in air slowly. It oxidizes in air when finely dispersed. Ytterbium burns in powder mixture with hexachloroethane and produce luminous emerald green flame. It reacts with hydrogen and forms non-stoichiometric hydrides. It also dissolves slowly in water but quickly in acid and liberate hydrogen gas. Ytterbium is electropositive react slowly quite quickly with hot water and formed ytterbium (lll) hydroxide. It reacts with all halogens and form dihalides and trihalides. Yb 2 O 3 is in white color and the salts are also colorless. Ytterbium mostly exist in +2 and +3 oxidation states. Ytterbium (ll) ions are strong reducing agent and decomposes water to release hydrogen gas.
What metal increases electrical resistivity?
Ytterbium metal increases electrical resistivity so it is used to monitor ground deformation from earth quakes and explosions.
How many radioisotopes does ytterbium have?
Ytterbium has seven stable isotopes: 168 Yb, 170 Yb, 171 Yb, 172 Yb, 173 Yb, 174 Yb and 176 Yb. It has twenty seven radioisotopes in which the most stable one is 169 Yb have half-life of 32 days. 175 Yb with the half-life of 4.18 days. 166 Yb have 56.7 hours.
When was ytterbium made?
In 1937 , first ytterbium metal was made by Klemm and Bonner by heating ytterbium chloride and potassium together. Its pure metal form was manufactured in 1953 by A. Daane, David Dennison and Frank Spedding [1].
When was ytterbium discovered?
Ytterbium was discovered in 1878. It oxidizes in the air but it forms a protective layer on the surface. 160Yb is used in portable X-ray machines that need no electricity. It is used as a catalyst in organic chemical industry.
What are the three oxides of yttrium?
In 1843, Carl Mosander investigated yttrium oxide more thoroughly and found that it consisted of three oxides: yttrium oxide, which was white; terbium oxide, which was yellow; and erbium oxide, which was rose-coloured. Glossary. Atomic radius, non-bonded.
Why is yttrium called earth?
It was called an’ earth’ because it was yttrium oxide, Y 2 O 3, which could not be reduced further by heating with charcoal. The metal itself was first isolated in 1828 by Friedrich Wöhler and made by reacting yttrium chloride with potassium. Yet, yttrium was still hiding other elements.
What is yttrium used for?
Yttrium is often used as an additive in alloys. It increases the strength of aluminium and magnesium alloys. It is also used in the making of microwave filters for radar and has been used as a catalyst in ethene polymerisation.
What element is used to provide the red colour for early colour television screens?
Image explanation. The radar reflects the use of yttrium in radar technology. The element also used to provide the red colour for early colour television screens, and this is the reason for the background which echoes the Warner Bros.
What is YAG used for?
Yttrium-aluminium garnet (YAG) is used in lasers that can cut through metals. It is also used in white LED lights. Yttrium oxide is added to the glass used to make camera lenses to make them heat and shock resistant. It is also used to make superconductors.
What is the radioactive isotope used for?
The radioactive isotope yttrium-90 has medical uses. It can be used to treat some cancers, such as liver cancer.
What is density in chemistry?
Density (g cm −3) Density is the mass of a substance that would fill 1 cm 3 at room temperature. Relative atomic mass. The mass of an atom relative to that of carbon-12. This is approximately the sum of the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus.
Overview
Ytterbium is a chemical element with the symbol Yb and atomic number 70. It is the fourteenth and penultimate element in the lanthanide series, which is the basis of the relative stability of its +2 oxidation state. However, like the other lanthanides, its most common oxidation state is +3, as in its oxide, halides, and other compounds. In aqueous solution, like compounds of other late lanthanid…
Characteristics
Ytterbium is a soft, malleable and ductile chemical element that displays a bright silvery luster when pure. It is a rare-earth element, and it is readily dissolved by the strong mineral acids. It reacts slowly with cold water and it oxidizes slowly in air.
Ytterbium has three allotropes labeled by the Greek letters alpha, beta and gamma; their transformation temperatures are −13 °C and 795 °C, although the exact transformation temperat…
Occurrence
Ytterbium is found with other rare-earth elements in several rare minerals. It is most often recovered commercially from monazite sand (0.03% ytterbium). The element is also found in euxenite and xenotime. The main mining areas are China, the United States, Brazil, India, Sri Lanka, and Australia. Reserves of ytterbium are estimated as one million tonnes. Ytterbium is normally difficult to separate fro…
Production
It is relatively difficult to separate ytterbium from other lanthanides due to its similar properties. As a result, the process is somewhat long. First, minerals such as monazite or xenotime are dissolved into various acids, such as sulfuric acid. Ytterbium can then be separated from other lanthanides by ion exchange, as can other lanthanides. The solution is then applied to a resin, which different lanthanides bind in different matters. This is then dissolved using complexing ag…
Compounds
The chemical behavior of ytterbium is similar to that of the rest of the lanthanides. Most ytterbium compounds are found in the +3 oxidation state, and its salts in this oxidation state are nearly colorless. Like europium, samarium, and thulium, the trihalides of ytterbium can be reduced to the dihalides by hydrogen, zinc dust, or by the addition of metallic ytterbium. The +2 oxidation st…
History
Ytterbium was discovered by the Swiss chemist Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac in the year 1878. While examining samples of gadolinite, Marignac found a new component in the earth then known as erbia, and he named it ytterbia, for Ytterby, the Swedish village near where he found the new component of erbium. Marignac suspected that ytterbia was a compound of a new eleme…
Applications
The Yb isotope (with a half-life of 32 days), which is created along with the short-lived Yb isotope (half-life 4.2 days) by neutron activation during the irradiation of ytterbium in nuclear reactors, has been used as a radiation source in portable X-ray machines. Like X-rays, the gamma rays emitted by the source pass through soft tissues of the body, but are blocked by bones and other dense materials. Thus, small Yb samples (which emit gamma rays) act like tiny X-ray machines useful …
Precautions
Although ytterbium is fairly stable chemically, it is stored in airtight containers and in an inert atmosphere such as a nitrogen-filled dry box to protect it from air and moisture. All compounds of ytterbium are treated as highly toxic, although studies appear to indicate that the danger is minimal. However, ytterbium compounds cause irritation to human skin and eyes, and some might be teratogenic. Metallic ytterbium dust can spontaneously combust, and the resulting fum…