
Where is samarium naturally found?
Samarium is the fifth most abundant of the rare elements and is almost four times as common as tin. It is never found free in nature, but in contained in many minerals, including monazite, bastnasite and samarskite. Samarium containing ores are found in USA, China, Brazil, India, Australia and Sri Lanka.
What is samarium found in?
1879Samarium / Discovered
How do you get samarium?
Samarium is found in metallic rings (maybe less so in metal-rich?) - so find a pristine metallic ring (use http://edtools.ddns.net/ to find one). If you are doing it in the starter zone then forget looking for a pristine ring (as the nearest is over 50ly away), just find a metallic one. Thanks for the link.
What are the physical properties of samarium?
The following are the key properties of samarium:It is a bright, hard silvery metal.It exists in its trivalent state.It is stable in air at normal temperatures.It forms oxide with moist air.It is the hardest and most brittle rare earth element.
How common is samarium on earth?
The chemical element samarium is classed as a lanthanide and rare earth metal.
Where is samarium cobalt mined?
ChinaMining and production Its ores are mainly mined in China, but there are large deposits in the US, Brazil, India, Australia, Greenland and Tanzania. The most important ore is monazite, which contains up to 3% by weight of samarium.
Does samarium react with water?
Reaction of samarium with water The silvery white metal samarium is quite electropositive and reacts slowly with cold water and quite quickly with hot water to form samarium hydroxide, Sm(OH)3, and hydrogen gas (H2).
Is samarium a radioactive element?
Samarium-147 and -148 are naturally occurring and stable. Samarium-129 through -143 and samarium-155 through -162 are artificially produced and are radioactive. Atomic weights and half-lives of selected Samarium isotopes.
What is samarium 153 used for in medicine?
A radioactive substance used to treat bone cancer and other cancers that have spread to the bone. Samarium Sm 153 is a radioactive form of the element samarium. It collects in bone, where it releases radiation that may kill cancer cells.
What is samarium 153 used for in medicine?
A radioactive substance used to treat bone cancer and other cancers that have spread to the bone. Samarium Sm 153 is a radioactive form of the element samarium. It collects in bone, where it releases radiation that may kill cancer cells.
Is samarium a radioactive element?
Samarium-147 and -148 are naturally occurring and stable. Samarium-129 through -143 and samarium-155 through -162 are artificially produced and are radioactive. Atomic weights and half-lives of selected Samarium isotopes.
Is samarium an element?
Samarium is a chemical element with symbol Sm and atomic number 62. Classified as a lanthanide, Samarium is a solid at room temperature.
What is the 63rd element?
Europium is a lanthanide, one of those unfamiliar elements sitting outside the main structure of the periodic table. With atomic number 63, it inhabits the bar of elements that squeeze numerically between barium and hafnium.
What is samarium found in?
Samarium is found along with other rare earth elements in many minerals, including monazite (2.8 percent) and bastnasite, which are commercial sources. While samarium has not been isolated in its pure form until recently, misch metal containing about 1 percent of samarium metal, has been used for a long time.
What is samarium oxide used for?
Samarium oxide has been used in optical glass to absorb the infrared. Samarium is used to dope calcium fluoride crystal for use in optical lasers or lasers.
What is the origin of the word "samarskite"?
Word origin: Named for the mineral samarskite, which was named in honor of a Russian mine official, Col. Samarski.
Is samarium a stable element?
Samarium, part of the lanthanide group of elements, is fairly stable in air and has a bright silver sheen. Three crystal modifications of the metal exist, with transformations at 734 and 922 C (1,353 and 1,692 F). [See Periodic Table of the Elements]
Is samarium pure or mixed?
While samarium has not been isolated in its pure form until recently, misch metal containing about 1 percent of samarium metal, has been used for a long time.
Where was samarium discovered?
The Swiss chemist Marc Delafontaine announced a new element decipium (from Latin: decipiens meaning "deceptive, misleading") in 1878, but later in 1880–1881 demonstrated that it was a mixture of several elements, one being identical to the Boisbaudran's samarium. Although samarskite was first found in the remote Russian region of Urals, by the late 1870s its deposits had been located in other places making the mineral available to many researchers. In particular, it was found that the samarium isolated by Boisbaudran was also impure and contained comparable amount of europium. The pure element was produced only in 1901 by Eugène-Anatole Demarçay.
What is the concentration of samarium?
Samarium occurs with concentration up to 2.8% in several minerals including cerite, gadolinite, samarskite, monazite and bastnäsite, the last two being the most common commercial sources of the element.
How much samarium is in the blood?
The total amount of samarium in adults is about 50 μg, mostly in liver and kidneys and with about 8 μg/L being dissolved in the blood.
How is samarium made?
Samarium can also be obtained by reducing its oxide with lanthanum. The product is then distilled to separate samarium (boiling point 1794 °C) and lanthanum (b.p. 3464 °C).
What are the compounds of samarium?
Compounds of samarium (II) are also known, most notably the monoxide SmO, monochalcogenides SmS, SmSe and SmTe, as well as samarium (II) iodide. The last compound is a common reducing agent in chemical synthesis. Samarium has no significant biological role but is only slightly toxic.
How is samarium carbide prepared?
Samarium carbides are prepared by melting a graphite-metal mixture in an inert atmosphere. After the synthesis, they are unstable in air and are studied also under inert atmosphere. Samarium monophosphide SmP is a semiconductor with the bandgap of 1.10 eV, the same as in silicon, and high electrical conductivity of n-type. It can be prepared by annealing at 1100 °C an evacuated quartz ampoule containing mixed powders of phosphorus and samarium. Phosphorus is highly volatile at high temperatures and may explode, thus the heating rate has to be kept well below 1 °C/min. Similar procedure is adopted for the monarsenide SmAs, but the synthesis temperature is higher at 1800 °C.
What is the atomic number of samarium?
Samarium is a chemical element with the symbol Sm and atomic number 62. It is a moderately hard silvery metal that slowly oxidizes in air. Being a typical member of the lanthanide series, samarium usually assumes the oxidation state +3. Compounds of samarium (II) are also known, most notably the monoxide SmO, monochalcogenides SmS, SmSe and SmTe, ...
Where did the name Samarium come from?
The origin of the name of Samarium is from smarskite, which is a mineral.
What is the radiance of samarium?
Newly prepared Samarium has a silvery radiance. In the air, it gradually oxidized at room temperature and suddenly ignites at 150 °C. In any point, when put away under mineral oil, samarium bit by bit oxidizes and builds up a greyish-yellow powder of the oxide-hydroxide blend at the surface. The metallic appearance of an example can be safeguarded via fixing it under inert gas, for example, argon.
What is Sm element?
Sm element forms trivalent sulfide, telluride and selenide. Divalent Chalcogenides SmS, SmSe and SmTe with cubic rock salt crustal structure are also known. By converting from semiconducting to metallic state at room temperature upon application of pressure is what Chalcogenides of the Sm element are known for.
What is the temperature of samarium?
The further reduction with Samarium, lithium or sodium metals at elevated temperatures (about 700–900 °C) yields dihalides. The reduction also produces numerous non-stoichiometric samarium halides with crystal structure adding with the dihalides, such as Sm3F7, Sm14F33, Sm27F64, Sm11Br24, Sm5Br11 and Sm6Br13.
How long does it take for a samarium 149 to decay?
About 1016 years is taken for just half the samarium-149 in nature to decay by alpha-particle emission. Explain the decay equation and isotope that is produced by the reaction?
What is the boiling point of samarium?
Samarium is a rare earth metal having a hardness and thickness like those of zinc. With a boiling point of 1794 °C , Samarium is the third most volatile lanthanide after ytterbium and europium; this property encourages detachment of Samarium from the mineral ore.
Who discovered samarskite?
Samarium was watched spectroscopically by Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac, a Swiss scientist, in a material known as dydimia in 1853. Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, a French scientist, was the first to seclude Samarium from the mineral samarskite ( (Y, Ce, U, Fe)3(Nb, Ta, Ti)5O16) in 1879. Samarium nowadays is obtained through an ion exchange process from monazite sand, a material rich in earth components that contain as much as 2.8% samarium.
What is the atomic number of samarium?
Samarium is a chemical element with atomic number 62 and is represented by the symbol Sm in the Periodic Table. It was discovered by Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran in the year 1879.
Is samarium a rare earth metal?
It is a silvery white, rare earth metal having the physical properties like hardness, similar to zinc. It is one of the most volatile elements among the lanthanides. Samarium and its compounds are paramagnetic at room temperature.
Samarium (Sm) electron configuration through orbit
Scientist Niels Bohr was the first to give an idea of the atom’s orbit. He provided a model of the atom in 1913. The complete idea of the orbit is given there. The electrons of the atom revolve around the nucleus in a certain circular path. These circular paths are called orbit (shell). These orbits are expressed by n. [n = 1,2,3,4 .
Electron configuration of samarium (Sm) through orbital
Atomic energy levels are subdivided into sub-energy levels. These sub-energy levels are called orbital. The sub energy levels are expressed by ‘l’. The value of ‘l’ is from 0 to (n – 1). The sub-energy levels are known as s, p, d, f. Determining the value of ‘l’ for different energy levels is-
How to write the orbital diagram for samarium (Sm)?
To create an orbital diagram of an atom, you first need to know Hund’s principle and Pauli’s exclusion principle. Hund’s principle is that electrons in different orbitals with the same energy would be positioned in such a way that they could be in the unpaired state of maximum number and the spin of the unpaired electrons will be one-way.
FAQs
What is the symbol for samarium? Ans: The symbol for samarium is ‘Sm’.

Overview
Applications
One of the most important uses of samarium is samarium–cobalt magnets, which are nominally SmCo5 or Sm2Co17. They have high permanent magnetization, about 10,000 times that of iron and second only to neodymium magnets. But samarium magnets resist demagnetization better; they are stable to temperatures above 700 °C (cf. 300–400 °C for neodymium magnets). Thes…
Physical properties
Samarium is a rare earth element with hardness and density similar to zinc. With boiling point 1794 °C, samarium is the third most volatile lanthanide after ytterbium and europium; this helps separation of samarium from ore. At ambient conditions, samarium normally has a rhombohedral structure (α form). Upon heating to 731 °C, its crystal symmetry changes to hexagonal close-packed (hcp), but transition temperature depends on metal purity. Further heating to 922 °C tra…
Chemical properties
Freshly prepared samarium has a silvery luster. In air, it slowly oxidizes at room temperature and spontaneously ignites at 150 °C. Even when stored under mineral oil, samarium gradually oxidizes and develops a grayish-yellow powder of the oxide-hydroxide mixture at the surface. The metallic appearance of a sample can be preserved by sealing it under an inert gas such as argon.
Samarium is quite electropositive and reacts slowly with cold water and quite quickly with hot w…
Compounds
The most stable oxide of samarium is the sesquioxide Sm2O3. Like many samarium compounds, it exists in several crystalline phases. The trigonal form is obtained by slow cooling from the melt. The melting point of Sm2O3 is high (2345 °C), so it is usually melted not by direct heating, but with induction heating, through a radio-frequency coil. Sm2O3 crystals of monoclinic symmetry can b…
Isotopes
Naturally occurring samarium is composed of five stable isotopes: Sm, Sm, Sm, Sm and Sm, and two extremely long-lived radioisotopes, Sm (half-life t1/2 = 1.06×10 years) and Sm (7×10 years), with Sm being the most abundant (26.75%). Sm is listed by various sources either as stable or radioactive, but only a lower bound for its half-life is given. Some samarium isotopes are predicted to decay to isotopes of neodymium.
History
Detection of samarium and related elements was announced by several scientists in the second half of the 19th century; however, most sources give priority to French chemist Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran. Boisbaudran isolated samarium oxide and/or hydroxide in Paris in 1879 from the mineral samarskite ((Y,Ce,U,Fe)3(Nb,Ta,Ti)5O16) and identified a new element in it via …
Occurrence and production
With the average concentration of about 8 parts per million (ppm), samarium is the 40th most abundant element in the Earth's crust. It is the fifth most abundant lanthanide and is more common than elements such as tin. Samarium concentration in soils varies between 2 and 23 ppm, and oceans contain about 0.5–0.8 parts per trillion. Distribution of samarium in soils strongly depends o…
Uses of Samarium
- What is Samarium used for can be explained as: 1. Samarium-Cobalt magnets which have a very high permanent magnetization is one of the most critical applications of Samarium. These magnets can be seen used in headphones, small motors and musical instruments like guitars. 2. In the manufacturing of solar-powered electric aircraft, this element can be seen. 3. In the makin…
Physical Properties of Samarium
- Samarium is a rare earth metal having a hardness and thickness like those of zinc. With a boiling point of 1794 °C, Samarium is the third most volatile lanthanide after ytterbium and europium; this property encourages detachment of Samarium from the mineral ore. At surrounding conditions, Samarium typically accepts a rhombohedral structure (α form)...
Chemical Properties of Samarium
- Newly prepared Samarium has a silvery radiance. In the air, it gradually oxidized at room temperature and suddenly ignites at 150 °C. In any point, when put away under mineral oil, samarium bit by bit oxidizes and builds up a greyish-yellow powder of the oxide-hydroxide blend at the surface. The metallic appearance of an example can be safeguarded via fixing it under inert …
Compounds of Samarium
- Oxides Sesquioxide Sm2O3is the most stable oxide of the Sm element. It exists in several crystalline phases, as many other samarium compounds. The trigonal form is obtained by slow cooling of the melt. Chalcogenides Sm element forms trivalent sulfide, telluride and selenide. Divalent Chalcogenides SmS, SmSe and SmTe with cubic rock salt crustal structure are also kno…
Solved Examples
- About 1016 years is taken for just half the samarium-149 in nature to decay by alpha-particle emission. Explain the decay equation and isotope that is produced by the reaction?
Fun Fact
- Uses of Samarium have no biological role, and it is not that toxic. It is observed that some soluble salts are mildly toxic but cannot affect the human life.
- Samarium is said to be the hardest member of the cerium group of earth metals.
- Samarium has a bright silver metallic lustre.
- The origin of the name of Samarium is from smarskite, which is a mineral.