Scandium

Scandium (pronounced /ˈskændiəm/, SKAN-dee-əm) is a chemical element with symbol Sc and atomic number 21. A silvery-white metallic transition metal, it has historically been sometimes classified as a rare earth element, together with yttrium and the lanthanides. In 1879, Lars Fredrik Nilson and his team, found a new element with spectral analysis, in the minerals euxenite and gadolinite from Scandinavia. Scandium is present in most of the rare ea... more

Scandium (pronounced /ˈskændiəm/, SKAN-dee-əm) is a chemical element with symbol Sc and atomic number 21. A silvery-white metallic transition metal, it has historically been sometimes classified as a rare earth element, together with yttrium and the lanthanides. In 1879, Lars Fredrik Nilson and his team, found a new element with spectral analysis, in the minerals euxenite and gadolinite from Scandinavia. Scandium is present in most of the rare earth element and uranium deposits, but it is extracted from these ores in only a few mines worldwide. Due to the low availability and the difficulties in the preparation of metallic scandium, which was first done in 1937, it took until the 1970s before applications for scandium were developed. The positive effects of scandium on aluminium alloys were discovered in the 1970s, and its use in such alloys remains the only major application of scandium. Dmitri Mendeleev predicted the existence of an element that he called ekaboron, with an atomic... less