Gadolinium

Gadolinium

Symbol	Gd
Atomic Number	64
Atomic Mass	157.25 g.mol-1
Discovered by	Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac in 1880

Chemical Properties of Gadolinium

What is Gadolinium?

• Gadolinium is the 64th element of the periodic table with its symbol being Gd. This is one of the rarely found metals on the earth.

Uses of Gadolinium

• Gadolinium finds its uses in the field of microwave application and also used in colour television sets in the form of phosphorous.
• The alloys of gadolinium are utilized in the manufacture of magnetic and electronic gadgets such as video recorder, etc.
• These are highly used in the nuclear power reactors of the nuclear power plants as control rods.
• The isotope of gadolinium Gd is widely employed in curing tumors and neutron therapy.
• Gadolinium gallium garnet is used for the imitation of diamonds.
• The metal is also used for many high-temperature devices as it has good resistivity.

Properties of Gadolinium

• Gadolinium is a soft, bright, and a silvery metal having both the properties called malleable and ductile.
• The metal does not react in the presence of oxygen but will get tarnished to a form of white oxide in the presence of moist air which protects it from getting further oxidized.
• This element is highly soluble in dilute acids and also reacts very slowly with water producing salts which are usually colourless.
• The element exists in its trivalent state when in compound form.
• Gadolinium is paramagnetic in nature at the room temperature and is ferromagnetic when cooled or at low temperatures of about 20^oc.
• The Curie point of the metal gadolinium is about 17^oc.
• Gadolinium has around 27 synthetic isotopes and about 13 number of naturally occurring isotopes. The isotope ¹⁵⁷ Gd has highest thermal stability as known.
• About 5.2 parts/million by weight of the earth’s crust is said to be comprised of this element Gadolinium.
• This metal forms binary compounds when it gets mixed with nitrogen, sulfur, carbon, phosphorus, selenium, boron, silicon, arsenic at higher temperatures.

Certain Facts About Gadolinium

• Gadolinium is said to be less toxic in nature. Sometimes, the salts of this metal cause eye and skin irritation in few. It does not create any impact on plants or animals.