Thulium

iso	NA	half-life	DM	DE M eV	DP
¹⁶⁷Tm	{syn.}	9.25 d	&epsilon	0.748	¹⁶⁷Er
¹⁶⁸Tm	{syn.}	93.1 d	ε	1.679	¹⁶⁸Er
¹⁶⁹Tm	100%	Thulium is stable with 100 neutrons
¹⁷⁰Tm	{syn.}	128.6 d	β^-	0.968	¹⁷⁰Yb
¹⁷¹Tm	{syn.}	1.92 y	β^-	0.096	¹⁷¹Yb

SI units & STP are used except where noted.

Thulium is a chemical element, in the periodic table that has the symbol Tm and atomic number 69. A lanthanide element, thulium is the least abundant of the rare earths and its metal is easy to work, has a bright silvery-gray luster and can be cut by a knife. It also has some corrosion resistance in dry air and good ductility. Naturally occurring thulium is made entirely of the stable isotope Tm-169.

Table of contents

1 Applications
2 History
3 Occurrence
4 Isotopes
5 Precautions
6 References
7 External links

Applications

Thulium has been used to create lasers but high production costs have prevented other commercial uses from being developed. Other uses/potential uses:

When stable thulium (Tm-169) is bombarded in a nuclear reactor it can later serve as a radiation source in portable X-ray devices.
The unstable Tm-171 could possibly be used as an energy source.
Tm-169 has potential use in ceramic magnetic materials called ferrites, which are used in microwave equipment.

History

Thulium was discovered by Swedish chemist Per Teodor Cleve in 1879 by looking for impurities in the oxides of other rare earth elements (this was the same method Carl Gustaf Mosander earlier used to discover some other rare earths elements). Cleve started by removing all of the known contaminants of erbia (Er₂O₃) and upon additional processing, obtained two new substances; one brown and one green. The brown substance turned out to be the oxide of the element holmium and was named holmia by Cleve and the green substance was the oxide of an unknown element. Cleve named the oxide thulia and its element thulium after Thule, an ancient Roman name for a mythical country in the far north, perhaps Scandinavia.

Occurrence

The element is never found in found in nature in pure form but it is found in small quantities in minerals with other rare earths. It is principally extracted from monazite (~0.007% thulium) ores found in river sands through ion-exchange. Newer ion-exchange and solvent extraction techniques have led to easier separation of the rare earths, which has yielded much lower costs for thulium production. The metal can be isolated through reduction of its oxide with lanthanum metal or by calcium reduction in a closed container. None of thulium's compoundss are commercially important.

Isotopes

Naturally occurring thulium is composed of 1 stable isotope, Tm-169 (100% natural abundance). 31 radioisotopes have been characterized, with the most stable being Tm-171 with a half-life of 1.92 years, Tm-170 with a half-life of 128.6 days, Tm-168 with a half-life of 93.1 days, and Tm-167 with a half-life of 9.25 days. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lifes that are less than 64 hours, and the majority of these have half lifes that are less than 2 minutes. This element also has 14 meta states, with the most stable being Tm-164m (t_� 5.1 minutes), Tm-160m (t_� 74.5 seconds) and Tm-155m (t_� 45 seconds).

The isotopes of thulium range in atomic weight from 145.966 amu (Tm-146) to 176.949 amu (Tm-177). The primary decay mode before the most abundant stable isotope, Tm-169, is electron capture, and the primary mode after is beta emission. The primary decay products before Tm-169 are element 68 (erbium) isotopes, and the primary products after are element 70 (ytterbium) isotopes.

Precautions

Thulium has a low-to-moderate acute toxic rating and should be handled with care. Metallic thulium in dust form presents a fire and explosion hazard.

References

Los Alamos National Laboratory's Chemistry Division: Periodic Table - Thulium
Guide to the Elements - Revised Edition, Albert Stwertka, (Oxford University Press; 1998) ISBN 0-19-508083-1
It's Elemental - Thulium

External links

WebElements.com - Thulium (also used as a reference)
EnvironmentalChemistry.com - Thulium (also used as a reference)