Scandium

Scandium is a chemical element with atomic symbol Sc and atomic number 21. Scandium is a group III transition metal found naturally as the principal component of the mineral thortveitite and in smaller quantities in more than 800 other minerals.

History

Lars Frederick Nilson reported the discovery of Scandium in 1879 Nilson was able to isolate about two grams of scandium oxide (Sc₂O₃) from the minerals euxenite and gadolinate. Nilson explains his choice of name as follows:

• "For the element thus characterized I propose the name "scandium," which will bring to mind its presence in gadolinite or euxenite, minerals that have so far been found only in the Scandinavian Peninsula."(from Nilson, Lars Frederick Comptes Rendus, 91, 118 (1880).)

Nilson's subsequent work, assisted by his colleague at the University of Upsala, Per Theodor Cleve, correctly identified the molecular mass of the isolated oxide and the atomic number of the new element. Nilson reported that Scandium was equivalent to the hypothetical element eka-boron, proposed by Mendeleev while constructing the periodic table.

Pure metallic scandium was first isolated from a eutectic melt of lithium, potassium, and scandium chlorides in 1937 by Fischer, Brunger, and Greineisen High purity scandium (99%) was first prepared in 1960.

Properties of Scandium

Metallic Scandium presents as a soft, silvery-white metal similar in appearance and consistency to yttrium. The most abundant isotope of Scandium is Scandium-45, present in nearly 100% abundance. Twelve additional radioactive isotopes have been identified.