The name derives from the mineral samarskite, in which it was found and that had been named for Colonel Samarski, a Russian mine official. Samarium was originally discovered in 1878 by the Swiss chemist Marc Delafontaine, who called it decipium. It was also discovered by the French chemist Paul-Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran in 1879. In 1881, Delafontaine determined that his decipium could be resolved into two elements, one of which was identical to Boisbaudran's samarium. In 1901, the French chemist Eugène-Anatole Demarçay showed that this samarium earth also contained europium.
Samarium was observed spectroscopically by Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac, a Swiss chemist, in a material known as dydimia in 1853. Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, a French chemist, was the first to isolate samarium from the mineral samarskite ((Y, Ce, U, Fe)3(Nb, Ta, Ti)5O16) in 1879. Today, samarium is primarily obtained through an ion exchange process from monazite sand ((Ce, La, Th, Nd, Y)PO4), a material rich in rare earth elements that can contain as much as 2.8% samarium.
Discovered spectroscopically by its sharp absorption lines in 1879 by Lecoq de Boisbaudran in the mineral samarskite, named in honor of a Russian mine official, Col. Samarski.
Samarium has a bright silver luster and is reasonably stable in air. Three crystal modifications of the metal exist, with transformations at 734 and 922°C. The metal ignites in air at about 150°C. The sulfide has excellent high-temperature stability and good thermoelectric efficiencies up to 1100°C.
Usuarios
Samarium is one of the rare earth elements used to make carbon arc lights which are used in the motion picture industry for studio lighting and projector lights. Samarium also makes up about 1% of Misch metal, a material that is used to make flints for lighters.
Samarium forms a compound with cobalt (SmCo5) which is a powerful permanent magnet with the highest resistance to demagnetization of any material known. Samarium oxide (Sm2O3) is added to glass to absorb infrared radiation and acts as a catalyst for the dehydration and dehydrogenation of ethanol (C2H6O).
Samarium, along with other rare earths, is used for carbon-arc lighting for the motion picture industry. SmCo5 has been used in making a new permanent magnet material with the highest resistance to demagnetization of any known material. It is said to have an intrinsic coercive force as high as 2200 kA/m. Samarium oxide has been used in optical glass to absorb the infrared. Samarium is used to dope calcium fluoride crystal for use in optical lasers or lasers. Compounds of the metal act as sensitizers for phosphors excited in the infrared; the oxide exhibits catalytic properties in the dehydration and dehydrogenation of ethyl alcohol. It is used in infrared absorbing glass and as a neutron absorber in nuclear reactors.
Sources
Samarium is found along with other members of the rare-earth elements in many minerals, including monazite and bastnasite, which are commercial sources. It occurs in monazite to the extent of 2.8%. While misch metal containing about 1% of samarium metal, has long been used, samarium has not been isolated in relatively pure form until recently. Ion-exchange and solvent extraction techniques have recently simplified separation of the rare earths from one another; more recently, electrochemical deposition, using an electrolytic solution of lithium citrate and a mercury electrode, is said to be a simple, fast, and highly specific way to separate the rare earths. Samarium metal can be produced by reducing the oxide with lanthanum.
Compounds
See more information at the Samarium compound page.
Element Forms
CID
Name
Formula
SMILES
Molecular Weight
23951
samarium
Sm
[Sm]
150.4
114941
samarium-153
Sm
[153Sm]
152.92210
119249
samarium(3+)
Sm+3
[Sm+3]
150.4
177480
samarium-154
Sm
[154Sm]
153.92222
177554
samarium-145
Sm
[145Sm]
144.91342
9877421
samarium-152
Sm
[152Sm]
151.91974
25087174
samarium-147
Sm
[147Sm]
146.91490
44154635
samarium-146
Sm
[146Sm]
145.91305
114939
samarium-151
Sm
[151Sm]
150.91994
177498
samarium-150
Sm
[150Sm]
149.91728
177673
samarium-156
Sm
[156Sm]
155.92554
10197772
samarium-149
Sm
[149Sm]
148.91719
25086834
samarium-144
Sm
[144Sm]
143.91201
167086
samarium-155
Sm
[155Sm]
154.92465
177495
samarium-141
Sm
[141Sm]
140.91848
177629
samarium-142
Sm
[142Sm]
141.91521
90478796
samarium-152(3+)
Sm+3
[152Sm+3]
151.91974
90479421
samarium-153(3+)
Sm+3
[153Sm+3]
152.92210
25086833
samarium-148
Sm
[148Sm]
147.91483
10103390
samarium-157
Sm
[157Sm]
156.92842
Handling And Storage
Little is known of the toxicity of samarium; therefore, it should be handled carefully.
Isotopes
Stable Isotope Count
5
Summary
Twenty one isotopes of samarium exist. Natural samarium is a mixture of several isotopes, three of which are unstable with long half-lives.
Isotopes in Earth/Planetary Science
One possible origin for the Moon is from debris ejected by an indirect giant impact of Earth by an astronomical body the size of Mars when the Earth was forming [436]. The kinetic energy liberated is thought to have melted a large part of the Moon forming a lunar magma ocean. Samarium isotope measurement results [437], along with measurements of isotopes of hafnium, tungsten, and neodymium[438], suggest that lunar magma formed about 70×106 years after the Solar System formed and had crystallized by about 215×106 years after formation. 147Sm (with a half-life of 1.06×1011 years) is used to study the formation of potassium, rare earth elements, and phosphorus-rich rocks [439].
[436] R. M. Canup, E. Asphaug. Nature412, 708 (2001).
[437] A. Brandon. Nature450, 1169 (2007).
[438] K. Righter, C. K. Shearer. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta67, 2497 (2003).
[439] J. Edmunson, L. E. Borg. “The formation age of KREEP based on the 147Sm-143Nd geochemistry of KREEP-rich rocks: duration of lunar magma ocean crystallization and similarity to early mars”, in Workshop on Early Planetary Differentiation.
Isotopes in Geochronology
147Sm is used for determining formation ages of igneous and metamorphic rocks via analysis of the minerals which compose them, such as those shown in Fig. IUPAC.62.1 [440], [441], [442].
Fig. IUPAC.62.1: Cross plot of n(¹⁴³Nd)/n(¹⁴⁴Nd) isotope-amount ratio and n(¹⁴⁷Sm)/n(¹⁴⁴Nd) amount ratio of carbonate and fluorocarbonates at the Bayan Obo rare-earth-element-niobium-iron deposit in Inner Mongolia, China (modified from [442]). ¹⁴³Nd is produced by decay of ¹⁴⁷Sm. Rock containing higher amounts of ¹⁴⁷Sm at time of mineralization will over time produce higher amounts of ¹⁴³Nd (e.g. fluorite samples). Alternatively, rocks containing lower amounts of ¹⁴⁷Sm at time of mineralization will over time produce lower amounts of ¹⁴³Nd (e.g. huanghoite samples). Samples from an older mineralization event will have proportionally more ¹⁴³Nd because of the longer accumulation time for ¹⁴³Nd; thus, the slope of the line through the samples above correlates to the time since mineralization (formation), and such a line is called an isochron.
[440] T. Iizuka, O. Nebel, M. McCulloch. Early Crustal Evolution Deduced from a Combined U-Pb and Sm-Nd Isotopic Study of Mt. Narryer and Jack Hills Monazites, The Australian National University (2014), Feb. 28; http://rses.anu.edu.au/highlights/view.php?article=191.
[441] K. Rankenburg, A. D. Brandon, C. R. Neal. Science312 1369 (2006).
[442] F. F. Hu, H. R. Fan, S. Liu, K. F. Yang, F. Chen. Resour. Geol.59, 407 (2009).
Isotopes in Medicine
The radioisotope 153Sm (with a half-life of 1.9 days) is used in medicine to treat the severe pain associated with cancer that has spread to bones (Fig. IUPAC.62.2) [443], [444], [445].
Fig. IUPAC.62.2: Targeting of bone metastases with ¹⁵³Sm-EDTMP in a prostate cancer patient. ANT indicates the anterior view of the patient; POST indicates the posterior view of the patient; arrow represents uptake in the pubic bone of the patient. (Image Source: Pandit-Taskar, Batraki, and Divgi, 2004) [445].
[443] International Atomic Energy Agency. Optimization of Production and Quality Control of Therapeutic Radionuclides and Radiopharmaceuticals, IAEA-TECDOC-1114, IAEA VIENNA (1999).
[444] C. L. Maini, S. Bergomi, L. Romano, R. Sciuto. Eur. J. Nucl. Med. Mol. Imaging31, S171 (2004).
[445] N. Pandit-Taskar, M. Batraki, C. R. Divgi. J. Nucl. Med.45, 1358 (2004).
Isotopes Used as a Source of Radioactive Isotope(s)
147Sm bombarded with 40Ca produces the radioisotope 182Pb [446].
[446] K. S. Toth, D. M. Moltz, J. M. Nitschke, P. A. Wilmarth, J. D. Robertson. AIP Conference Proc.283, 347 (1991).
7. IUPAC Periodic Table of the Elements and Isotopes (IPTEI)
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