Discovery Information
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Who: Dirk Coster, George Hevesy |
When: 1923 |
Where: Denmark |
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Name Origin
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From Hafnia, the Latin name of Copenhagen. |
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Sources
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Hafnium does not exist in nature in elemental form. Obtained from the mineral zircon. |
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Uses
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Used in gas-filled and incandescent lamps, reactor control rods because of its ability to absorb neutrons also as a gas scavenger
in vacuum tubes.
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It is also used in iron, titanium, niobium, tantalum and other metal alloys.
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Notes
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A man made radioactive element and the first transactinide element. |
Care needs to be taken when machining hafnium because when it is divided into fine particles, it is pyrophoric and can ignite spontaneously in air.
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