Cerium

Cerium is a chemical element with symbol Ce and atomic number 58. It is a soft, silvery, ductile metal which easily oxidizes in air. Cerium was named after the dwarf planet Ceres (itself named after the Roman goddess of agriculture). Cerium is the most abundant of the rare earth elements, making up about 0.0046% of the Earth's crust by weight. It is found in a number of minerals, the most important being monazite and bastnäsite. Commercial applications of cerium are numerous. They include catalysts, additives to fuel to reduce emissions and to glass and enamels to change their color. Cerium oxide is an important component of glass polishing powders and phosphors used in screens and fluorescent lamps. It is also used in the "flint" (actually ferrocerium) of lighters.

Characteristics

Physical properties

Cerium is a silvery metal, belonging to the lanthanide group. It resembles iron in color and luster, but is soft, and both malleable and ductile. Cerium has the second-longest liquid range of any non-radioactive element: 2648 °C (795 °C to 3443 °C) or 4766 °F (1463 °F to 6229 °F). (Only thorium is known to have longer liquid ranges.)

Isotopes of cerium

Naturally occurring cerium (Ce) is composed of 4 stable isotopes: ¹³⁶Ce, ¹³⁸Ce, ¹⁴⁰Ce, and ¹⁴²Ce, with ¹⁴⁰Ce being the most abundant (88.48% natural abundance) and the only one theoretically stable; ¹³⁶Ce, ¹³⁸Ce, and ¹⁴²Ce are predicted to undergo double beta decay but this process has never been observed. There are 35 radioisotopes that have been characterized, with the most stable being ¹⁴⁴Ce, with a half-life of 284.893 days; ¹³⁹Ce, with a half-life of 137.640 days and ¹⁴¹Ce, with a half-life of 32.501 days. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 4 days and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 10 minutes. This element also has 10 meta states.

The isotopes of cerium range in atomic weight from 119 u (¹¹⁹Ce) to 157 u (¹⁵⁷Ce).

Relative atomic mass: 140.116(1).

Table