23
V
Vanadium
Atomic Mass 50.9415
Electron Configuration [Ar]4s23d3
Oxidation States +5, +4, +3, +2
Year Discovered 1801

Identifiers

Element Name Vanadium
Element Symbol V
InChI InChI=1S/V
InChIKey LEONUFNNVUYDNQ-UHFFFAOYSA-N

Properties

Atomic Weight

50.9415(1)

50.9415

50.94

50.9415(1)

Electron Configuration

[Ar]4s23d3

Atomic Radius

Van der Waals Atomic Radius : 179 pm (Van der Waals)

Empirical Atomic Radius : 135pm (Empirical)

Covalent Atomic Radius : 153(8) pm (Covalent)

Oxidation States

+5, +4, +3, +2

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, -1, -3 ​(an amphoteric oxide)

Ground Level

4F3/2

Ionization Energy

6.746 eV

6.746187 ± 0.000021 eV

Electronegativity

Pauling Scale Electronegativity : 1.63(Pauling Scale)

Allen Scale Electronegativity : 1.53(Allen Scale)

Electron Affinity

0.525eV

0.63eV

Atomic Spectra

Lines Holdings

Levels Holdings

Physical Description

Solid

Element Classification

Metal

Element Period Number

4

Element Group Number

5

Density

6.0 grams per cubic centimeter

Melting Point

2183 K (1910°C or 3470°F)

1910°C

Boiling Point

3680 K (3407°C or 6165°F)

3407°C

Estimated Crustal Abundance

1.20×102 milligrams per kilogram

Estimated Oceanic Abundance

2.5×10-3 milligrams per liter

History

The name derives from the Scandinavian goddess of love and beauty, Freyja Vanadis, because of its many beautiful multi-coloured compounds. Vanadium was discovered by the Swedish physician and chemist Nils-Gabriel Sefström in 1830.

Vanadium had originally been discovered by the Spanish mineralogist Andres Manuel del Rio y Fernandez in 1801, who named it erythronium, after the plant of that name whose flowers have many beautiful colours. Del Rio later decided that it was really chromium in his lead sample. Vanadium metal was first isolated by the English chemist Henry Enfield Roscoe in 1869.

Vanadium was discovered by Andrés Manuel del Rio, a Spanish chemist, in 1801. Rio sent samples of vanadium ore and a letter describing his methods to the Institute de France in Paris, France, for analysis and confirmation. Unfortunately for Rio, his letter was lost in a shipwreck and the Institute only received his samples, which contained a brief note describing how much this new element, which Rio had named erythronium, resembled chromium. Rio withdrew his claim when he received a letter from Paris disputing his discovery. Vanadium was rediscovered by Nils Gabriel Sefstrôm, a Swedish chemist, in 1830 while analyzing samples of iron from a mine in Sweden. Vanadium was isolated by Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe, an English chemist, in 1867 by combining vanadium trichloride (VCl3) with hydrogen gas (H2). Today, vanadium is primarily obtained from the minerals vanadinite (Pb5(VO)3Cl) and carnotite (K2(UO2)2VO4·1-3H2O) by heating crushed ore in the presence of carbon and chlorine to produce vanadium trichloride. The vanadium trichloride is then heated with magnesium in an argon atmosphere.

Named after Scandinavian goddess, Vanadis. Vanadium was first discovered by del Rio in 1801. Unfortunately, a French chemist incorrectly declared that del Rio's new element was only impure chromium. Del Rio thought himself to be mistaken and accepted the French chemists' statement.

The element was rediscovered in 1830 by Sefstrom, who named the element in honor of the Scandinavian goddess, Vanadis, because of its beautiful multicolored compounds. It was isolated in nearly pure form by Roscoe, who in 1867 reduced the chloride with hydrogen.

Vanadium of 99.3 to 99.8% purity was not produced until 1922.

Historical Atomic Weights

Year Atomic Weight (uncertainty) [u] Reference
1977 50.9415(1) https://doi.org/10.1351/pac197951020405
1969 50.9414(3) https://doi.org/10.1351/pac197021010091
1961 50.942 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja00881a001
1931 50.95 https://doi.org/10.1039/JR9310001617
1925 50.96 https://doi.org/10.1039/CT9252700913
1912 51.0 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja02224a601
1911 51.06 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja01928a001
1902 51.2 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01370337

Historical Isotopic Abundances

Year Isotope Abundance (uncertainty) Reference
2013 50V 0.002 50(10) https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2015-0503
2013 51V 0.997 50(10) https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2015-0503
1997 50V 0.00250(4) https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199870010217
1997 51V 0.99750(4) https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199870010217
1981 50V 0.002 50(2) https://doi.org/10.1351/pac198355071119
1981 51V 0.997 50(2) https://doi.org/10.1351/pac198355071119
1975 50V 0.0025 https://doi.org/10.1351/pac197647010075
1975 51V 0.9975 https://doi.org/10.1351/pac197647010075

Description

Pure vanadium is a bright white metal, and is soft and ductile. It has good corrosion resistance to alkalis, sulfuric and hydrochloric acid, and salt water, but the metal oxidizes readily above 660°C.

The metal has good structural strength and a low fission neutron cross section, making it useful in nuclear applications.

Users

Vanadium is corrosion resistant and is sometimes used to make special tubes and pipes for the chemical industry. Vanadium also does not easily absorb neutrons and has some applications in the nuclear power industry. A thin layer of vanadium is used to bond titanium to steel.

Nearly 80% of the vanadium produced is used to make ferrovanadium or as an additive to steel. Ferrovanadium is a strong, shock resistant and corrosion resistant alloy of iron containing between 1% and 6% vanadium. Ferrovanadium and vanadium-steel alloys are used to make such things as axles, crankshafts and gears for cars, parts of jet engines, springs and cutting tools.

Vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) is perhaps vanadium's most useful compound. It is used as a mordant, a material which permanently fixes dyes to fabrics. Vanadium pentoxide is also used as a catalyst in certain chemical reactions and in the manufacture of ceramics. Vanadium pentoxide can also be mixed with gallium to form superconductive magnets.

Vanadium is used in producing rust resistant and high speed tool steels. It is an important carbide stabilizer in making steels.

About 80% of the vanadium now produced is used as ferrovanadium or as a steel additive. Vanadium foil is used as a bonding agent in cladding titanium to steel. Vanadium pentoxide is used in ceramics and as a catalyst.

It is also used to produce a superconductive magnet with a field of 175,000 gauss.

Sources

Vanadium is found in about 65 different minerals among which are carnotite, roscoelite, vanadinite, and patronite, important sources of the metal. Vanadium is also found in phosphate rock and certain iron ores, and is present in some crude oils in the form of organic complexes. It is also found in small percentages in meteorites.

Commercial production from petroleum ash holds promise as an important source of the element. High-purity ductile vanadium can be obtained by reduction of vanadium trichloride with magnesium or with magnesium-sodium mixtures.

Much of the vanadium metal being produced is now made by calcium reduction of V2O5 in a pressure vessel, an adaption of a process developed by McKechnie and Seybair.

Compounds

See more information at the Vanadium compound page.

Element Forms

CID Name Formula SMILES Molecular Weight
23990 vanadium V [V] 50.9415
42626440 vanadium-51 V [51V] 50.943958
107675 vanadium(4+) V+4 [V+4] 50.9415
161054 vanadium-48 V [48V] 47.95225
177493 vanadium-47 V [47V] 46.954904
5460753 vanadium(2+) V+2 [V+2] 50.9415
25087177 vanadium-52 V [52V] 51.944774
177438 vanadium-49 V [49V] 48.948511

Handling And Storage

Vanadium and its compounds are toxic and should be handled with care. The maximum allowable concentration of V2O5 dust in air is about 0.05 (8-hour time-weighted average - 40-hour week).

Isotopes

Stable Isotope Count 1
Summary Natural vanadium is a mixture of two isotopes, 50V (0.24%) and 51V (99.76%). 50V is slightly radioactive, having a half-life of> 3.9 x 1017 years. Nine other unstable isotopes are recognized.

Isotopes in Earth/Planetary Science

The isotopic abundances of 50V and 51V have been used as an indicator of planetary core formation processes (Fig. IUPAC.23.1). Vanadium is greatly depleted in the Earth’s mantle compared with that in chondritic meteorites (chondrites). It is assumed that the deficit of vanadium in the Earth’s crust is accounted for by its partitioning into the core [202]. The ratios of 50V and 51V have been used as a test of the X-wind model, which accounts for a portion of the extinct radioactive nuclides present in the early Solar System by radiation from the young Sun [202]. 51V is depleted in meteorites compared to Earth [203].

Fig. IUPAC.23.1: Variation in the isotope-amount ratio n(⁵¹V)/n(⁵⁰V) of selected meteorites and that of bulk silicate Earth (modified from [203]), assuming a measured n(⁵¹V)/n(⁵⁰V) isotope-amount ratio of 399.5 [204].

[202] S. G. Nielsen, J. Prytulak, A. N. Halliday. “Vanadium isotope ratios in meteorites: a new tool to investigate planetary and nebular processes”, in 40th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.
[203] S. G. Nielsen, J. Prytulak, B. J. Wood, A. Halliday. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.389, 169 (2014).
[204] G. D. Flesch, J. Capellen, H. J. Svec. in Advanced Mass Spectrometry III, Leiden, London (1966).

Isotopes in Industry

51V is used in solid state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) to provide information to material scientists about surface species of vanadium oxide catalysts (substances that increase the rate of chemical reactions without themselves undergoing any permanent chemical change), their interaction with the supporting material, and their reactions during catalytic processes [205].

[205] K. J. D. MacKenzie, M. E. Smith. Multinuclear Solid-State NMR of Inorganic Materials, Elsevier Science Ltd, Oxford (2002).

Isotope Mass and Abundance

Isotope Atomic Mass (uncertainty) [u] Abundance (uncertainty)
50V 49.947 156(3) 0.002 50(10)
51V 50.943 957(3) 0.997 50(10)
Isotope Atomic Mass (uncertainty) [u] Abundance (uncertainty)
50V 49.94715601(95) 0.00250(4)
51V 50.94395704(94) 0.99750(4)

Atomic Mass, Half Life, and Decay

Nuclide Atomic Mass and Uncertainty [u] Half Life and Uncertainty Discovery Year Decay Modes, Intensities and Uncertainties [%]
39V 39.024230 ± 0.000429 [Estimated] Not-specified p ?
40V 40.013387 ± 0.000322 [Estimated] Not-specified p ?
41V 41.000333 ± 0.000215 [Estimated] Not-specified p ?
42V 41.991820 ± 0.00021 [Estimated] Not-specified <55ns p ?
43V 42.980766000 ± 0.000046 79.3 ms ± 2.4 1987 β+=100%; β+p<2.5%
44V 43.974440977 ± 0.000007799 111 ms ± 7 1971 β+=100%; β+α=?; β+p ?
44Vm 43.974440977 ± 0.000007799 150 ms ± 3 1997 β+=100%
44Vn 43.974440977 ± 0.000007799 Not-specified
45V 44.965768498 ± 0.000000926 547 ms ± 6 1975 β+=100%
45Vm 44.965768498 ± 0.000000926 512 ns ± 13 1980 IT=100%
46V 45.960197389 ± 0.000000143 422.62 ms ± 0.05 1952 β+=100%
46Vm 45.960197389 ± 0.000000143 1.02 ms ± 0.07 1962 IT=100%
47V 46.954903558 ± 0.000000118 32.6 m ± 0.3 1942 β+=100%
48V 47.952250900 ± 0.000001043 15.9735 d ± 0.0025 1937 β+=100%
49V 48.948510509 ± 0.000000884 330 d ± 15 1940 ε=100%
50V 49.947156681 ± 0.000000099 271 Py ± 13 1949 IS=0.250±1%; β+≈100%; β- ?
51V 50.943957664 ± 0.000000104 Stable 1924 IS=99.750±1%
52V 51.944773636 ± 0.00000017 3.743 m ± 0.005 1934 β-=100%
53V 52.944334940 ± 0.000003331 1.543 m ± 0.014 1960 β-=100%
54V 53.946432009 ± 0.000012001 49.8 s ± 0.5 1970 β-=100%
54Vm 53.946432009 ± 0.000012001 900 ns ± 500 1998 IT=100%
55V 54.947262000 ± 0.000029 6.54 s ± 0.15 1977 β-=100%
56V 55.950420082 ± 0.000188819 216 ms ± 4 1980 β-=100%; β-n ?
57V 56.952297000 ± 0.000091 350 ms ± 10 1980 β-=100%; β-n ?
58V 57.956595985 ± 0.000102862 191 ms ± 10 1980 β-=100%; β-n ?
59V 58.959623343 ± 0.000147505 95 ms ± 6 1985 β-=100%; β-n>3%
60V 59.964479215 ± 0.000195327 122 ms ± 18 1985 β-=100%; β-n ?; β-2n ?
60Vm 59.964479215 ± 0.000195327 40 ms ± 15 1999 β-=?; IT ?; β-n ?; β-2n ?
60Vn 59.964479215 ± 0.000195327 230 ns ± 24 1999 IT=100%
61V 60.967603529 ± 0.000252196 48.2 ms ± 0.6 1992 β-=100%; β-n=14.5±2%; β-2n ?
62V 61.972932556 ± 0.000283723 33.6 ms ± 2.3 1997 β-=100%; β-n ?; β-2n ?
63V 62.976661000 ± 0.000365 19.6 ms ± 0.9 1997 β-=100%; β-n>35%; β-2n ?
64V 63.982480 ± 0.000429 [Estimated] 15 ms ± 2 1997 β-=100%; β-n ?; β-2n ?
64Vm 63.982480 ± 0.000429 [Estimated] <1 us 2014 IT≈100%
65V 64.986999 ± 0.000537 [Estimated] 14 ms >620ns [Estimated] 2009 β- ?; β-n ?; β-2n ?
66V 65.993237 ± 0.000537 [Estimated] 10 ms >620ns [Estimated] 2009 β- ?; β-n ?; β-2n ?
67V 66.998128 ± 0.000644 [Estimated] 8 ms >620ns [Estimated] 2013 β- ?; β-n ?; β-2n ?

Information Sources

  1. 1.  PubChem
  2. 2.  Atomic Mass Data Center (AMDC), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
  3. 3.  IUPAC Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights (CIAAW)
  4. 4.  Jefferson Lab, U.S. Department of Energy
    LICENSE
    Please see citation and linking information https https://www.jlab.org/privacy-and-security-notice
  5. 5.  Los Alamos National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy
  6. 6.  NIST Physical Measurement Laboratory
  7. 7.  IUPAC Periodic Table of the Elements and Isotopes (IPTEI)
    LICENSE
    Copyright (c) 2020 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) contribution within Pubchem is provided under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, unless otherwise stated.
    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
  8. 8.  PubChem Elements
    Vanadium

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