L for Lanthanum

This is the 12th in the series of 26 posts this month, one post a day, barring four Sundays, each on a theme corresponding to a letter of the English alphabet. My theme this year is "Chemicals in our life", spurred by my interest in chemistry.

All the elements of the world are arranged in a tabular form called the periodic table, according to their properties. 

The rows are called periods, and the columns are called groups.

As many as 118 elements have been discovered as of now.

(The periodic table is a childhood memory for me thanks to my dad, who was a chemistry teacher. We had one stuck on a wall in the study.)

If you see the periodic table, elements with atomic numbers 57 to 71, fifteen of them, are arranged in a row below the main block.

Those 15 are called lanthanides, named after the first element in that series - lanthanum.

They all are in a separate row because they all have properties similar to the first in the series, lanthanum.

There is a similar series of 15 elements called actinides.

Lanthanum was discovered in 1839 by Carl Gustaf Mosander, who separated it from cerium oxide. 

It's a soft, ductile, and silvery-white metal that can be easily cut with a knife. 

The name lanthanum comes from the Greek word lanthanein, meaning "to lie hidden" because it was difficult to isolate from other elements.

Lanthanum is one of the most abundant rare earth elements, with an average concentration of 18 ppm in the Earth's crust. It is mainly found in minerals such as monazite and bastnasite, which are also sources of other rare earth elements.

Lanthanum has many applications in various fields, such as optics, electronics, catalysis, medicine, and energy.

- Used to make optical glass and lenses, such as camera lenses, telescopes, binoculars, and microscopes. It improves the refractive index and dispersion properties of glass.

- Used to make phosphors for fluorescent lamps, cathode ray tubes, X-ray screens, and scintillators. It emits bright green light when excited by electrons or X-rays.

- Used in medicine for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. For example, lanthanum carbonate is a drug that binds to phosphate in the gastrointestinal tract and prevents its absorption into the blood. This helps to treat hyperphosphatemia (high phosphate levels) in patients with chronic kidney disease.

- Energy-related applications, such as hydrogen storage, fuel cells, batteries, and nuclear reactors. For instance, lanthanum nickel hydride (LaNiH) is a material that can store hydrogen gas at room temperature and release it when heated. This makes it a potential alternative to fossil fuels for clean energy.

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Images from Pixabay

The information provided in this post has been obtained from multiple, authentic resources. However, it is presented in an abridged format and might not have all the details. Therefore, before acting on any information, readers are requested to exercise caution and do further research.

This post is a part of #BlogchatterA2Z 2023. I am also on A2Z April Challenge.