Dysprosium

Dysprosium is a chemical element located in the Lanthanide group of the periodic table. Its name comes from the Latin word Dysprositos, meaning "hard to get at".

Properties
Dysprosium is a shiny silver colored metal. This element is extremely soft, as it can easily be cut by a knife at room temperature. It is not very reactive, and oxidizes very slowly when exposed to air. Impurities are a problem though. Even the smallest amount of impurities will affect the metal a lot. You must be careful when handling dysprosium in the form of powder, because when air is mixed with it, any ignition sources can cause it to explode. Static electricity may also ignite the powder. Once on fire, dysprosium cannot be put out with water, for it may react to the water. The only fires extinguishable with water are dysprosium chloride fires.

Occurrences
Dysprosium is obtained through an ion exchange process from monazite sand. Dysprosium can also be obtained through: Xenotime, Fergusonite, Gadolinite, Monaziate, and Bastnasite, however, Monaziate and Bastnasite are the two most common sources of obtaining Dysprosium through the ion exchange process.

Uses
We don't yet fully know all the uses of Dysprosium. It can be used in making laser materials along with Vanadium. Dysprosium oxide-nickel cements have been used for cooling nuclear reactor rods. Dysprosium has a high melting point, and is able to absorb neutrons very easily.

History
In 1886, a French chemist named Andre Lecoq de Boisbaudran discovered the rare earth metal, Dysprosium. Unfortunately, due to the lack of technology at his time, the metal and the oxide were never able to be in their pure form until 1950, when Frank Harold Spedding invented the ion exchange separation technique.