Gadolinium is a rare earth metal and a member of the lanthanide family.
The lanthanides are soft silvery metals, whose name means “hidden”. They are very much alike and hard to distinguish from each other. They are members of the rare earth metal group, but many of them are not rare at all. Cerium is more common on earth than Copper. The least common lanthanide is Thulium and it is more common than silver. The lanthanides were discovered in the first half of the Twentieth Century.
The lanthanides have strong refractory effects and are thus used in light equipment and in lenses. They are also useful in lasers, CDs, and as colorants. Their emissions make the color in color television. They also have strong magnetic qualities and can run miniature motors. In this usage the lanthanides have become very common in technology. You also find lanthanides in electron microscopes and superconductors. Samarium is used to make the carbon lights that are in use in the motion picture industry, and are therefore responsible for the movies we see. They also make up the flint for cigarette lighters.
Gadolinium was named after the mineral gadolinite, a mineral named from the Finnish chemist, Johan Gadolin. It has an atomic number of 64, an atomic weight of 157.25 and a density of 7.90 grams per cubic centimeter. It boils at 3546 K (3273C or 5923F) has a melting point of 1586 K (1313C or 2395F) and is a solid at room temperature. It contains five stable isotopes. Evidence of gadolinium was first observed in 1880, by a Swiss chemist named Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac. He was using a spectroscope to investigate the minerals didymia and gadonlinite.
Gadolinium is in use as a healing agent in homeopathy. It can be used to treat defects of depth perception, and pneumonias and bronchitis in the lungs. Gadolinium is useful in the treatment of heart arrhythmias, as well as arthritis and infertility. The mindset of a Gadolinium patient is similar to that of a person needing the homeopathic remedy Magnesium. Both have an aversion to fights, but magnesium patients fear the aggression, but Gadolinium patients are more concerned with the fighting interrupting someone’s autonomy. A good keyword for Gadolinium patients is self-satisfied.
Today, gadolinium is obtained from the mineral monazite, like most of the lanthanides. Gadolinium is used to create garnets for microwaves. It is added to tin, chromium and other metals to make them more resistant to high temperatures and oxidation. Compounds of gadolinium are also used in phosphors of color televisions.
