Lutetium

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Lutetium
Properties
Atomic symbol Lu
Atomic number 71
Classification Rare Earth
Atomic mass 174.967 amu
Number of Stable Isotopes 2
Density (grams per cc) 9.840 g/cm^3
Other Information
Date of discovery 1907
Name of discoverer Georges Urbain, Carl Auer von Welsbach and Charles James
Name origin From Lutetia, the ancient name of Paris.
Uses Used in alloys and can be used as a catalyst in cracking, hydrogenation, polymerization and alkylation. It's primary use is in chemical research.
Obtained from Found with ytterbium in gadolinite and xenotime. Its chief ores are monazite and bastnasite.


Lutetium is the hardest and densest of the rare earth metals. It has two stable isotopes (actually one, but another one has a half-life of over 1010 years).

Lutetium was discovered in 1907 by Georges Urbain and others, after being separated from ytterbium. This brought to a close a long period of confusion about whether the (very similar) elements ytterbium, terbium, and erbium were different, and which one was which.