Properties
Element Data
Atomic symbol: Sm
Atomic number: 62
Atomic weight: 150.363(8)
Isotopes and abundances:
Sm 3.08(1)
Sm 15.02(5)%
Sm 11.25(3)%
Sm 13.83(4)%
Sm 7.35(2)%
Sm 26.74(3)%
Sm 22.73(5)%
1 atm melting point: 1345 K
1 atm boiling point: 2067 K
Common valences: 3+
Ionic radii: 108 pm (eightfold coordination)
Pauling electronegativity: 1.17
First ionization potential: 5.6437 eV
Chondritic (CI) abundance: 0.148 ppm
Silicate Earth abundance: 0.406 ppm
Crustal abundance: 3.9 ppm
Seawater abundance: 0.1–20 pmol/kg
Core abundance: ~0
History and Use
Samarium was first discovered by Swiss chemist Marc Delafontaine in 1878 who named it “decipium,” later proven to be a mixture of samarium and other rare earths. French chemist Paul-Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran isolated samarium in 1879. It was purified from the mineral samarskite named for Colonel Vasili von Samarsky, a Russian mine official...
References
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Bizimis, M., Scher, H. (2016). Samarium. In: White, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39193-9_136-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39193-9_136-1
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