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Promethium

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Geochemistry

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

  • 459 Accesses

FormalPara Element Data

Atomic Symbol: Pm

Atomic Number: 61

Atomic Weight: ~145

Isotopes and Abundances: -

1 Atm Melting Point: 1042 °C

1 Atm Boiling Point: ~3000 °C

Common Valences: +3

Ionic Radii: 97 pm (CN6), 110 pm (CN8), and 127 pm (CN12)

Pauling Electronegativity: – ~1.2

First Ionization Energy: 538.6 kJ mol−1

Chondritic (CI) Abundance: 0 ppm

Silicate Earth Abundance 0 ppm

Crustal Abundance: 0 ppm

Seawater Abundance: 0 ppt

Core Abundance: 0 ppm

Properties

Promethium (Pm) , originally called prometheum and named after Prometheus, one of the Titans of classical mythology, is a moderately dense (7.264 g cm−3) silvery-white metal with an electronic configuration of [Xe]4f56s2. It is a group 3 or IIIB inner transition element and is one of the lanthanide rare earth elements (REE) . Promethium does not exist in nature apart from negligible abundances of short-lived isotopes that form as decay products. Promethium has no natural stable or long-lived...

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References

  • Cowley, C. R., Bidelman, W. P., Hubrig, S., Mathys, G., and Bord, D. J., 2004. On the possible presence of promethium in the spectra of HD 101065 (Przybylski’s star) and HD 965. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 419, 1087–1093.

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  • Gschneidner, Jr., K. A., 2016. Physical properties of the rare earth metals. In Haynes, W. M. (ed.), CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 96th edn. Boca Raton: CRC Press, pp. 4-115–4-120.

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  • Hammond, C. R., 2016. The elements. In Haynes, W. M. (ed.), CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 96th edn. Boca Raton: CRC Press, pp. 4-1–4-42.

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  • Zaimes, G. G., Hubler, B. J., Wang, S., and Khanna, V., 2015. Environmental life cycle perspective on rare earth oxide production. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 3, 237–244.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794-2100, USA

    Scott M. McLennan

Authors
  1. Scott M. McLennan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Scott M. McLennan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth, Cornell University Department of Earth, Ithaca, New York, USA

    William M. White

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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McLennan, S.M. (2016). Promethium. In: White, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39193-9_134-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39193-9_134-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-39193-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

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