18 Facts About Dysprosium

Dysprosium is the chemical element with the symbol Dy and atomic number 66.

Dysprosium is never found in nature as a free element, though, like other lanthanides, it is found in various minerals, such as xenotime.

Dysprosium was first identified in 1886 by Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, but it was not isolated in pure form until the development of ion-exchange techniques in the 1950s.

Dysprosium has relatively few applications where it cannot be replaced by other chemical elements.

Dysprosium is a rare-earth element and has a metallic, bright silver luster.

Dysprosium metal retains its luster in dry air, however it will tarnish slowly in moist air and burns readily to form dysprosium oxide:.

Dysprosium is quite electropositive and reacts slowly with cold water to form dysprosium hydroxide:.

Dysprosium oxide, known as dysprosia, is a white powder that is highly magnetic, more so than iron oxide.

Dysprosium combines with various non-metals at high temperatures to form binary compounds with varying composition and oxidation states +3 and sometimes +2, such as DyN, DyP, DyH2 and DyH3; DyS, DyS2, Dy2S3 and Dy5S7; DyB2, DyB4, DyB6 and DyB12, as well as Dy3C and Dy2C3.

Dysprosium is the heaviest element with isotopes that are not observationally stable or radioactive.

Dysprosium has at least 11 metastable isomers, ranging in atomic mass from 140 to 165.

Dysprosium was only able to isolate dysprosium from its oxide after more than 30 attempts at his procedure.

Dysprosium is obtained primarily from monazite sand, a mixture of various phosphates.

Dysprosium prices have climbed nearly twentyfold, from $7 per pound in 2003, to $130 a pound in late 2010.

Dysprosium is used, in conjunction with vanadium and other elements, in making laser materials and commercial lighting.

Dysprosium is increasingly in demand for the permanent magnets used in electric-car motors and wind-turbine generators.

Dysprosium is one of the components of Terfenol-D, along with iron and terbium.

Dysprosium nitrate, Dy3, is a strong oxidizing agent and readily ignites on contact with organic substances.