Ytterbium

Voncken, J. H. L.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-39312-4_144

J. H. L. Voncken⁵

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

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FormalPara Element Data

Atomic Symbol: Yb

Atomic Number: 70

Atomic Weight: 173.054(5)

Isotopes and Abundances: ¹⁶⁸Yb 0.13%, ¹⁷⁰Yb 3.04%, ¹⁷¹Yb 14.28%, ¹⁷²Yb 21.83%, ¹⁷³Yb 16.13%, ¹⁷⁴Yb 31.83%, ¹⁷⁶Yb 12.76%

1 Atm Melting Point: 824 °C

1 Atm Boiling Point: 1196 °C

Common Valences: 3+, 2+

Ionic Radii: (3+) 4-fold 86.8 pm, 6-fold 92.5 pm, 8-fold 98.5 pm, (2+) 6-fold 108 pm, 8-fold 114 pm

Pauling Electronegativity: 1.1

First Ionization Energy: 603.435 kJ/mol

Chondritic (CI) Abundance: 161 ppb

Silicate Earth Abundance: 441 ppb

Crustal Abundance: 1.9 ppm

Seawater Abundance: ~0.17–1.2 ng/kg

Core Abundance: ~0

Properties

Ytterbium is a silvery-white metal, with a slight yellowish tinge (see Fig. 1). Ytterbium is a lithophile element (McDonough and Sun 1995). It is soft, malleable, and quite ductile. It is slowly oxidized by air. However, this oxide layer forms a protective layer on the surface, preventing complete oxidation (Emsley 2011; Hammond 2016).

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References

Boynton WV (1975) Fractionation in the solar nebula: condensation of yttrium and the rare earth elements. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 39(5):569–584
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Emsley J (2011) Nature’s building blocks. An A-Z guide of the elements. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 614–616
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Hammond CR (2016) CRC Handbook of chemistry and physics, 96th edition, 2015–2016, Electronic edn. CRC Press, Boca Raton
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Marignac JCG (1878) Sur l’ytterbine, nouvelle terre contenue dans la gadolinite. C R Hebd Seances Acad Sci LXXXVII:578–581
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McDonough WF, Sun SS (1995) The composition of the earth. Chem Geol 120:223–253
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Mori Y, Kobayashi S (2012) Organic synthesis. In: Atwood DA (ed) The rare earth elements: fundamentals and applications. Wiley, Hoboken, pp 452–453
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NIST (2013) Ytterbium atomic clocks set record for stability. http://www.nist.gov/pml/div688/clock-082213.cfm. Accessed Mar 2016

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Authors and Affiliations

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Department of Geosciences and Engineering, Section Resource Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
J. H. L. Voncken

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J. H. L. Voncken
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Correspondence to J. H. L. Voncken .

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Editors and Affiliations

Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
William M. White

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Voncken, J.H.L. (2018). Ytterbium. In: White, W.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39312-4_144

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39312-4_144
Published: 18 July 2018
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-39311-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-39312-4
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

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