Hafnium [Hf] (CAS-ID: 7440-58-6) locate me
An: 72 N: 106 Am: 178.49
Group No: 4  Group Name: (none)
Block: d-block  Period: 6
State: solid at 298 K
Colour: grey steel Classification: Metallic
Boiling Point: unknown (?)
Melting Point: unknown (?)
Density: 13.31g/cm3
Shell Structure diagram | Atomic Radius diagram
Isotopes | More Info
Discovery Information
Who: Dirk Coster, George Hevesy
When: 1923
Where: Denmark
Name Origin
From Hafnia, the Latin name of Copenhagen.
Sources
Hafnium does not exist in nature in elemental form. Obtained from the mineral zircon.
Uses
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.
It is also used in iron, titanium, niobium, tantalum and other metal alloys.
Notes
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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