Swedish chemist Jons Jakob Berzelius, was born on this date in 1779. He is credited with identifying the chemical element cerium. 10 things you might not know about this element.
Cerium is a chemical element with the symbol Ce and atomic number 58.
It is a soft and ductile silvery-white metal which tarnishes in air and reacts with water. Pure cerium may ignite if scratched with a knife.
Its Melting point is 1068 K (795 °C, 1463 °F)
Its boiling point is 3716 K (3443 °C, 6229 °F).
It’s the most abundant of the rare-earth metals and the 25th most abundant element overall. It’s actually more plentiful than lead or tin. Its estimated abundance in the Earth's crust is 68 ppm.
Cerium occurs in minerals such as bastnasite, monazite, and many others. It also is found among the fission products of Uranium, Plutonium, and thorium.
Cerium was discovered in Bastnäs in Sweden by Jöns Jakob Berzelius and Wilhelm Hisinger in 1803. In the same year, Martin Heinrich Klaproth also discovered it, quite independently, in Germany.
It was Jöns Jakob Berzelius who named the element, after the asteroid Ceres, which had been discovered two years earlier. The asteroid, in turn, was named after the Roman goddess Ceres, goddess of agriculture.
It has no biological role, but isn’t particularly toxic, either, except with intense or continued exposure. Percentage Amount in the Human Body: 0.00006%
Its uses in industry include grinding and polishing glass, for precision optical lenses, flat-screen TVs, and mirrors. It’s also used in lighter flints, Catalytic Converters and self-cleaning ovens.
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