Ytterbium ( /ɨˈtɜrbiəm/ i-TUR-bee-əm) is a chemical element with the symbol Yb and atomic number 70. It is the the fourteenth and penultimate element in the lanthanide series, or last element in the f-block, which is the basis of the relative stability of the +2 oxidation state. However, like the other lanthanides, the most common oxidation state is +3, seen in its oxide, halides and other compounds. In an aqueous solution, like compounds of othe...
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Ytterbium ( /ɨˈtɜrbiəm/ i-TUR-bee-əm) is a chemical element with the symbol Yb and atomic number 70. It is the the fourteenth and penultimate element in the lanthanide series, or last element in the f-block, which is the basis of the relative stability of the +2 oxidation state. However, like the other lanthanides, the most common oxidation state is +3, seen in its oxide, halides and other compounds. In an aqueous solution, like compounds of other late lanthanides, soluble lutetium compounds form a complex with nine water molecules.
In 1878, the Swiss chemist Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac separated in the rare earth of "erbia" another independent component, which he called "ytterbia", for Ytterby, the Swedish village near where he found the new component of erbium. He suspected that ytterbia was a compound of a new element that he called "ytterbium" (note that in total four elements were named after the place, other being yttrium, terbium and erbium). In 1907, the new earth ...
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