Scandium Totally Explained

Everything about Scandium totally explained

Scandium is a chemical element that has the symbol Sc and atomic number 21. A silvery white metal that's always present as compounds, scandium ores occur as rare minerals from Scandinavia and elsewhere, and it's sometimes considered along with yttrium, and the lanthanides and actinides, to be a rare earth element.

Notable characteristics

Scandium is a rare, hard, silvery, rough very dark metallic element that develops a slightly yellowish or pinkish cast when exposed to air. It isn't resistant to weathering when pure and is destroyed on prolonged contact with most dilute acids. However, like some other reactive metals, this metal isn't attacked by a 1:1 mixture of nitric acid (H N O₃) and hydrofluoric acid, H F.
The rarity of scandium isn't an arbitrary fact. The thermonuclear reactions that produce the elements in this range of atomic numbers tend to produce much greater quantities of elements with an even atomic number. These elements were usually produced by the fusion of lighter elements with helium-4 nuclei, starting with carbon-12 (element six). Thus, the common elements in the range of scandium are atomic numbers 18 (argon), 20 (calcium), 22 (titanium), and 24 (chromium); with elements with odd atomic numbers 19 (potassium), 21 (scandium), and 23 (vanadium) being rarely produced, and thus much less common. The production of the odd-numbered elements in this range result from much less common thermonuclear reactions, as is explained elsewhere.

Applications

Since it isn't a very common metal, scandium doesn't have many applications. If it were more common, it might be useful in the making of aircraft and spacecraft structures, probably alloyed with other metals.
It is used in lacrosse sticks; a light yet strong metal is needed for precise accuracy and speed. Backcountry tent manufacturers sometimes use scandium alloys in tent poles. U.S. gunmaker Smith & Wesson produces a few variations including a large, medium, and small lightweight revolver with a frame composed of scandium alloy and a titanium cylinder.
Approximately 20 kg (as Sc₂O₃) of scandium is used annually in the United States to make high-intensity lights. Scandium iodide added to mercury-vapor lamps produces an efficient artificial light source that resembles sunlight, and which allows good color-reproduction with TV cameras. About 80 kg of scandium is used in light bulbs globally per year. The radioactive isotope Sc-46 is used in oil refineries as a tracing agent.

Compounds

The most common oxidation state of scandium in is +3. Scandium chemically resembles yttrium and the rare earth metals more than it resembles aluminium or titanium. Thus scandium is sometimes seen as the scandium oxide, Sc₂O₃, and as scandium chloride, ScCl₃.

Isotopes

Naturally occurring scandium is composed of 1 stable isotope ⁴⁵Sc. 13 radioisotopes have been characterized with the most stable being ⁴⁶Sc with a half-life of 83.8 days, ⁴⁷Sc with a half-life of 3.35 days, and ⁴⁸Sc with a half-life of 43.7 hours. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half lives that are less than 4 hours, and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 2 minutes. This element also has 5 meta states with the most stable being ^44mSc (t_½ 58.6 h).
The isotopes of scandium range in atomic weight from 40 u (⁴⁰Sc) to 54 u (⁵⁴Sc). The primary decay mode at masses lower than the only stable isotope, ⁴⁵Sc, is electron capture, and the primary mode at masses above it's beta emission. The primary decay products at atomic weights below ⁴⁵Sc are calcium isotopes and the primary products from higher atomic weights are titanium isotopes.

Further Information

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