Vanadium

Vanadium ( /vəˈneɪdiəm/ və-NAY-dee-əm) is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery gray, ductile and malleable transition metal. The element is found only in chemically combined form in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an oxide layer stabilizes the free metal somewhat against further oxidation. Andrés Manuel del Río discovered vanadium in 1801 by analyzing a new lead-bearing mineral ... More

Vanadium ( /vəˈneɪdiəm/ və-NAY-dee-əm) is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery gray, ductile and malleable transition metal. The element is found only in chemically combined form in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an oxide layer stabilizes the free metal somewhat against further oxidation. Andrés Manuel del Río discovered vanadium in 1801 by analyzing a new lead-bearing mineral he called "brown lead," and named the new element erythronium (Greek for "red") since, upon heating, most of its salts turned from their initial color to red. Four years later, however, he was convinced by other scientists that erythronium was identical to chromium. The element was rediscovered in 1831 by Nils Gabriel Sefström, who named it vanadium after the Germanic goddess of beauty and fertility, Vanadís (Freyja). Both names were attributed to the wide range of colors found in vanadium compounds. Del Rio's lead mineral was later renamed...

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