Vanadium

Vanadium (pronounced /vəˈneɪdiəm/, və-NAY-dee-əm) is the chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a soft, silvery gray, ductile transition metal. The formation of an oxide layer stabilizes the metal against oxidation. Andrés Manuel del Río discovered vanadium in 1801 by analyzing the mineral vanadinite, and named it erythronium. Four years later, however, he was convinced by other scientists that erythronium was identical to... more

Vanadium (pronounced /vəˈneɪdiəm/, və-NAY-dee-əm) is the chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a soft, silvery gray, ductile transition metal. The formation of an oxide layer stabilizes the metal against oxidation. Andrés Manuel del Río discovered vanadium in 1801 by analyzing the mineral vanadinite, and named it erythronium. 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 Scandinavian goddess of beauty and fertility, Vanadis (Freya). Both names were attributed to the wide range of colors found in vanadium compounds. The element occurs naturally in about 65 different minerals and in fossil fuel deposits. It is produced in China and Russia from steel smelter slag; other countries produce it either from the flue dust of heavy oil, or as a byproduct of uranium mining. It is mainly used to produce specialty... less