Gadolinite-Y

Description

Gadolinite-Y was named in 1800 after Johan Gadolin, the Finnish mineralogist-chemist who first isolated an oxide of the rare-earth element yttrium from the mineral in 1792. Gadolin used this mineral to make many discoveries, and you can bring this home to make discoveries of your own, or to keep a pretty awesome sample of so many various elements!

Gadolinium was also named after Gadolin, shortly after Gadolinite, however, Gadolinite-Y counterintuitively does not contain more than only trace amounts of gadolinium. Several elements were discovered as a consequence of lengthy analysis and decomposition of this rock from the Ytterby Mine in Sweden. According to Wikipedia, “as the ore was progressively analysed, the residue was first given the label ceria, then lanthana, and subsequently yttria, erbia, and terbia. In order of date discovered, the list of elements includes cerium, lanthanum, erbium, terbium, yttrium, ytterbium, holmium, thulium, scandium, praseodymium, neodymium and dysprosium.”

The hardness of Gadolinite-Y is between 6.5 and 7 on the Mohs scale, and the specific gravity is between 4.0 and 4.7. It’s found on most continents, and in seven counties within Colorado. While many rocks like this can be found in Colorado and which had come to the market long ago from Colorado, but this specific specimen is from its Ytterby TL. Find a rock like this near you, learn the chemistry behind extracting and purifying the Rare Earths within, and get really rich!