Your English writing platform
Discover LudwigDictionary
thulium
noun
A metallic chemical element (symbol Tm) with an atomic number of 69.
synonyms
Exact(28)
Even the two rarest (thulium and lutetium) are more abundant in the Earth's crust than gold or platinum.A decade ago America was the world's largest producer of rare-earth metals.
Thulium has little practical use beyond research.
The four metals with high vapour pressures are prepared by mixing R2O3 (R = samarium, europium, thulium, and ytterbium) with fine chips of lanthanum metal and placing the mixture in the bottom of a tall tantalum crucible.
Thulium is a moderately hard, silvery white metal that is stable in air but can easily be dissolved in diluted acids except hydrofluoric acid (HF), in which an insoluble trifluoride (TmF3) layer forms on the surface of the metal, impeding further chemical reaction.
Thulium is one of the rarest of the rare-earth elements.
Natural thulium is wholly composed of the stable isotope thulium-169.
Thulium can be prepared in the +2 oxidation state, as in the dark-coloured diiodide TmI2.
Thulium in the stable +3 state forms a series of pale green salts.
Cerium, which is the most abundant, ranks 28th, and thulium, the least abundant, ranks 63rd.
Similar(2)
They range in mass from 144 to 179, and their half-lives range from more than 300 nanoseconds (thulium-178) to 1.92 years (thulium-171).
Thulium-170 is used in small portable X-ray sources suitable for medical X-ray imaging and nondestructive evaluation of thin-walled structures.
Write better and faster with AI suggestions while staying true to your unique style.
Since I tried Ludwig back in 2017, I have been constantly using it in both editing and translation. Ever since, I suggest it to my translators at ProSciEditing.

Justyna Jupowicz-Kozak
CEO of Professional Science Editing for Scientists @ prosciediting.com