Topic: neodymium

neodymium , metallic chemical element; symbol Nd; at. no. 60; at. wt. 144.24; m.p. about 1,021°C; b.p. about 3,068°C; sp. gr. 7.004 at 20°C; valence +3. Neodymium is a lustrous silver-yellow metal. It is one of the rare-earth metals in the lanthanide series of Group 3 of the periodic table . It exists in two distinct forms (see allotropy ); at room temperature it has a hexagonal crystalline structure, but when heated above about 800°C it assumes a face-centered cubic conformation with specific gravity about 6.8. The metal tarnishes in air; the coating formed does... Read more