Gadolinium is a chemical element with the symbol Gd and atomic number 64. Gadolinium is a silvery-white metal when oxidation is removed. It is only slightly malleable and is a ductile rare-earth element. Gadolinium reacts with atmospheric oxygen or moisture slowly to form a black coating.
source/image(PrtSc): Thoisoi2 – Chemical Experiments!
Today I would like to tell you about such an unusual metal as gadolinium. Gadolinium belongs to the lanthanides series in the periodic table following europium.Gadolinium looks like an ordinary metal of gray color and it has distinctive crystalline structure because of its purity.
The metal is extracted from minerals containing practically all rare-earth metals – from monazite. The final stage of extracting metallic gadolinium is heating up its oxide with calcium and later distillating it.
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This metal is not that expensive. Gadolinium as a metal or a salt absorbs neutrons and is, therefore, used sometimes for shielding in neutron radiography and in nuclear reactors.Do not repeat the experiments shown in this video!
