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samarium
(redirected from atomic number 62)

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.04 sec.
samarium (səmâr`ēəm), metallic chemical element; symbol Sm; at. no. 62; at. wt. 150.36; m.p. 1,072°C;; b.p. 1,791°C;; sp. gr. 7.54 at 20°C;; valence +2 or +3. Samarium is a lustrous silver-white metal. It is one of the rare-earth metals rare-earth metals, in chemistry, group of metals including those of the lanthanide series and actinide series , usually yttrium , sometimes scandium and thorium , and rarely zirconium .
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 of the lanthanide series lanthanide series, a series of metallic elements, included in the rare-earth metals , in Group 3 of the periodic table . Members of the series are often called lanthanides, although lanthanum (atomic number 57) is not always considered a member of the series.
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 in Group 3 of the periodic table periodic table, chart of the elements arranged according to the periodic law discovered by Dmitri I. Mendeleev and revised by Henry G. J. Moseley . In the periodic table the elements are arranged in columns and rows according to increasing atomic number (see the
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. It has two crystalline forms (see allotropy allotropy (əlŏ`trəpē) [Gr.,=other form].
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). The metal does not oxidize at room temperature but ignites when heated above 150°C;. Samarium is found widely distributed in nature; it is obtained commercially from the minerals monazite monazite (mŏn`əzīt)
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 and bastnasite. Naturally occurring samarium is a mixture of seven isotopes, three of which are radioactive with extremely long half-lives. The metal was not isolated in relatively pure form until recently, although it has long been used in pyrophoric alloys used in cigarette lighter flints. Samarium is used as a catalyst in certain organic reactions. A samarium-cobalt compound, SmCo5, is used to make magnets for use in computer memories. The oxide, samaria, is used in special infrared absorbing glass and cores of carbon arc-lamp electrodes. Since one isotope of samarium is a good neutron absorber, the element has found use in nuclear reactor control rods. Samarium was discovered in 1879 by P. E. Lecoq de Boisbaudran by spectroscopic analysis of the mineral samarskite.

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