Ytterbium

Chemical element symbol is (Yb) and atomic number 70.

Ytterbium is a Rare Earth Metal classified in the group of Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREE).

Jean Charles de Marignac Galissard thought to have discovered in 1878 in the land of yttrium. He was admitted as a new element, but it proved in 1907 that he was actually composed of two elements when Georges Urbain succeeded the first to separate the oxides of Ytterbium and lutetium together with Carl Auer von Welsbach.

The Ytterbium is a shiny silver metal that is relatively stable in air and reacts slowly in water. Like other lanthanides, it is silver grey malleable and ductile at ambient temperature. It must be kept away from the air, especially moist.

This is the final torque of yttrium and erbium, which determined its name referring to its characteristic properties between those of yttrium and erbium. With six paired electrons, its properties provide high-energy lasers to penetrate the thick steel destroy cancer cells with gamma rays, build turbine blades and register identifying marks, codes and symbols.

In Russia, the operation is carried out by loparite mined (hydrometallurgical processing) and underground methods using the methods room and pillar. These minerals are mined in China’s southem provinces, mainly Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi.