hello everyone, today I'd like to tell you
about such an unusual metal as Gadolinium.
Gadolinium belongs to the lanthanide series in the periodic table
before Europium
Gadolinium looks like an ordinary metal
of gray color
and it has distinctive crystal structure
because of its purity
this metal is extracted from monazite
a mineral containing practically all rare earth metals.
The final stage of extraction of the metal Gadolinium
is heating up its oxide with calcium
and later distilling it
this metal is not that expensive
one gram of Gadolinium costs about fifty cents
this piece of metal was extracted by distilation
that is why it has such a structure
called dendrites
countries that are rich in Gadolinium are China, Brazil and USA
this metal has a unique property
that sets it apart from all the other rare earth metals
it gets attracted to magnets very well
almost like ferro magnets
one of which is Iron
at room temperature Gadolinium is paramagnentic
but if frozen to temperature below twenty degrees centigrade
it becomes a ferromagnet
in other words, it can get magnetized at such temperatures
besides this
Gadolinium can also be used to make the most effective magnetic refrigerators
due to its magnetocaloric effect
it means that if you put a magnet next to a piece of Gadolinium
that piece of metal
will heat up a little
and if the magnet is set aside Gadolinium will cool of
a whole machine with a spinning wheel containing ground Gadalinium
can be made based on this property
a wheel spins next to a permanent magnet
when Gadolinium drops closer to the magnet
it heats up and the heat is drowned out
as Gadolinium drops farther from the magnetic field
it cools off that is deprives under the system of its heat
nowadays such magnetic refrigerators are the most effective and promising
and also with the help of this metal
you can create ultra low temperatures
from which this metal can be called the coldest metal
now let us consider some chemical properties of Gadolinium
like other lanthanides
this metal dissolves well in hydrochloric acid
and forms Gadolinium chloride
this compound also dissolves well in water
but if add potassium cyanide it will form a greenish Gadolinium ferro cyanide sediment
If sodium metavanadate is added to the solution of Gadolinium chloride
a yellow sediment
with an unusual structure will befold
also when ground on a grinding wheel
Gadolinium particles set on fire and burn
producing oxide
because of the metals high activity
also Gadalinium dissolves well in acetic acid
like other lantanites forming Gadalinium acitate
which imidiately decomposes as a result of hydrolosis in water
it is not ______
that if alcali or sodium hydroxide
is added to the substance
this reaction will produce something like jell
from Gadolinium hydroxide
nano particles of Gadolinium oxide can be extracted from this jell
and later can be used as safe and effective magnetic contrast agent
for MRI machines one of the most frquently used
magnetic contrast agents is a soluble salt of Gadolinium,
Gadolinium amide
this compound improves the visibility of internal body structures
in magnetic resonance imaging machines
soluble salts of this metal
are not safe for human health
however insoluble oxide is safer
besides medicine Gadolinium is also used in nuclear power
because it absorbs thermal neutrons better than all other elements
it allows us to use its compounds for controlling nuclear reactor
also Gadolinium alloys such as with Iron and Cobalt
for instance I used to make model high capacity hard drives
in summer we can say that preservation of food is our future
with a pent of Gadolinium because future refridgerators
will all run on this metal
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