Although you are not required to know all of the elements of the earth, such as holmium, it never hurts to expand your knowledge base and learn something new about what powers the world around us. The elements and minerals that are present in the items that we consume or use regularly do have the ability to impact our health and the health of the world as a whole. Holmium is represented in the periodic table by the fitting symbol Ho and 67 for the atomic number. As part of the rare lanthanide series, it is also considered one of Earth’s rare elements. Below, you will find that we’ve compiled 10 more facts about this rare element. 1. Jacques-Louis Soret and Marc Delafontaine discovered holmium in 1878. They gave it the temporary name of "Element X". It wasn’t until later that year that Per Teodor Cleve also discovered the same element while working with erbia; however, it was Cleve’s discovery that ultimately determined the new name of "holmium" would replace "Element X". 2. Holmium does not occur naturally in free element form. Instead, like most rare earths, it occurs in combination with other minerals and elements. 3. Australia, Brazil, China, India, Sri Lanka and the United States are the current main areas used for the mining of holmium. As of the time of this writing, the current estimated reserve is 400,000 tons. 4. Holmium is fairly soft and relatively malleable. It is also shows fair corrosion resistance and has been found to be stable when exposed to standard temperature dry air. It does, however, oxidize pretty quickly at increased temperatures. As it oxidizes, it will form a yellow-toned oxide, but in its purest form, it looks like a bright silver metal. 5. Holmium can also change color when exposed to certain light. For instance, it can appear reddish orange in trichromatic light, but in daylight it will appear to be almost a pale yellow. 6. Holmium also possesses the most magnetic strength out of any of the elements. That alone is remarkable. However, it also forms extremely magnetic compounds when it is combined with the element yttrium. 7. This metal readily burns to create holmium oxide and it does tarnish slowly when in open air. It is also very electropositive. 8. In cold water, holmium reacts slowly, but in hot water, it will react quickly to create holmium hydroxide. It will also react with all halogens and will readily dissolve in sulfuric acid. 9. When considering that holmium is one of Earth’s rare metals, it is remarkably inexpensive. At the time of this writing, the going price per kilogram of holmium is right around $1000. 10. Holmium is frequently used in the creation of magnetic fields that are generated artificially. It is also used in the creation of nuclear control rods, microwave equipment, fiber optic applications and it is also used to color glass and cubic zirconia; providing either red or yellow coloring properties. In radioactive form, Ho-166m1 is also used in gamma ray calibration.
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