Holmium

Holmium

Symbol	Ho
Atomic Number	67
Atomic Mass	164.930
Discovered by	Holmium was discovered by Per Teodor Cleve at Uppsala, Sweden and independently by Marc Delafontaine and Louis Soret in Switzerland.

Chemical Properties of Holmium

What is Holmium?

• Holmium is the 67th element in the periodic table. It is soft and malleable with the symbol being Ho. This element belongs to the series of lanthanides in the periodic table. It has excellent stability at room temperature and is soluble in acids. The metal is highly affected by water and oxygen.
• Holmium possesses good magnetic permeability and is a good absorber of neutrons. For this purpose, it has many applications in the field of magnetics. It was discovered by a chemist named J.L. Soret in the year 1878. It is a highly reactive metal when burnt in the presence of air.
• Holmium is a paramagnetic as well as a ferromagnetic metal at a temperature below 19k. It appears as a bright and silver metal, and when it is oxidized, it forms an oxide which is yellowish in colour. It has about one natural isotope and out of its synthetic isotopes,  one is holmium-163 and it has a half-life of about 4570 years.

Uses of Holmium

• The alloys of holmium are used to create high magnetic fields in a magnetic flux concentrator.
• It is used as the control rods in nuclear reactors because of its high neutron capture cross-section.
• The oxides of this metal are used as a colouring agent in the glass.
• It is employed in optical spectrophotometers for the purpose of calibration.
• It also has a wide number of applications in the field of medical, fibre-optics, and dental areas.