16 Facts About Niobium

Niobium, or columbium, is a chemical element with chemical symbol Nb and atomic number 41.

Niobium is often found in the minerals pyrochlore and columbite, hence the former name "columbium".

Niobium was officially adopted as the name of the element in 1949, but the name columbium remains in current use in metallurgy in the United States.

Niobium is used mostly in alloys, the largest part in special steel such as that used in gas pipelines.

Niobium was identified by English chemist Charles Hatchett in 1801.

Related searches

Niobium is a lustrous, grey, ductile, paramagnetic metal in group 5 of the periodic table, with an electron configuration in the outermost shells atypical for group 5.

Niobium has the greatest magnetic penetration depth of any element.

Niobium is slightly less electropositive and more compact than its predecessor in the periodic table, zirconium, whereas it is virtually identical in size to the heavier tantalum atoms, as a result of the lanthanide contraction.

Niobium pentafluoride is a white solid with a melting point of 79.

Niobium capacitors are available as alternative to tantalum capacitors, but tantalum capacitors still predominate.

Niobium is added to glass to obtain a higher refractive index, making possible thinner and lighter corrective glasses.

Niobium treated with sodium hydroxide forms a porous layer that aids osseointegration.

Niobium is used as a precious metal in commemorative coins, often with silver or gold.

Niobium is used in arc welding rods for some stabilized grades of stainless steel and in anodes for cathodic protection systems on some water tanks, which are then usually plated with platinum.

Niobium is an important component of high-performance heterogeneous catalysts for the production of acrylic acid by selective oxidation of propane.

Niobium is used to make the high voltage wire of the solar corona particles receptor module of the Parker Solar Probe.