Discovery Information
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Who: Paul emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran |
When: 1879 |
Where: France |
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Name Origin
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From the mineral samarskite, named after a Russian mine official, Colonel Samarski. |
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Sources
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Never found free in nature. Samarium is found in many minerals, including bastnasite, monazite and samarskite. |
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Uses
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Used in carbon-arc lighting, permanent magnets, lasers, alloys, headphones and as an absorber in nuclear reactors.
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Samarium oxide is used in optical glass to absorb infrared. |
Samarium-Cobalt magnets; SmCo5 is used in making a new permanent magnet material with the highest resistance to demagnetization of any known material.
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