19 Facts About Neodymium

Neodymium is a chemical element with the symbol Nd and atomic number 60.

Neodymium was discovered in 1885 by the Austrian chemist Carl Auer von Welsbach, who discovered praseodymium.

Neodymium is not found naturally in metallic form or unmixed with other lanthanides, and it is usually refined for general use.

Neodymium is fairly common—about as common as cobalt, nickel, or copper—and is widely distributed in the Earth's crust.

Neodymium compounds were first commercially used as glass dyes in 1927 and remain a popular additive.

Neodymium-doped glasses are used in lasers that emit infrared with wavelengths between 1047 and 1062 nanometers.

Neodymium is used with various other substrate crystals, such as yttrium aluminium garnet in the Nd:YAG laser.

Neodymium alloys are used to make high-strength neodymium magnets—a type of powerful permanent magnet.

Neodymium is a quite electropositive element, and it reacts slowly with cold water, or quickly with hot water, to form neodymium hydroxide:.

Neodymium is rarely found in nature as a free element, instead occurring as ores.

Neodymium is classified as a lithophile under the Goldschmidt classification, meaning that it is generally found combined with oxygen.

Neodymium magnets appear in products such as microphones, professional loudspeakers, in-ear headphones, guitar and bass guitar pick-ups, and computer hard disks where low mass, small volume, or strong magnetic fields are required.

Neodymium is used in the electric motors of hybrid and electric automobiles and in the electricity generators of some designs of commercial wind turbines .

Neodymium glass is produced by the inclusion of neodymium oxide in the glass melt.

Neodymium is used to remove the green color caused by iron contaminants from glass.

Neodymium-doped crystals generate high-powered infrared laser beams which are converted to green laser light in commercial DPSS hand-held lasers and laser pointers.

Neodymium is otherwise not known to have a biological role in any other organisms.

Neodymium salts are regarded as more toxic if they are soluble than if they are insoluble if they are ingested.

Neodymium magnets have been tested for medical uses such as magnetic braces and bone repair, but biocompatibility issues have prevented widespread application.