Some of thulium's compounds include: thulium oxide (Tm2O3), thulium fluoride (TmF3) and thulium iodide (TmI3). He was searching for impurities in the oxides of other rare earth elements. In particular, thulium occurs in the mineral gadolinite. He began specifically looking at the element erbium because he discovered differing atomic weights of the samples he obtained. He began specifically looking at the element erbium because he discovered differing atomic weights of the samples he obtained. Say what? Metallic thulium is relatively expensive and has only recently become available. The primary decay mode before the most abundant stable isotope, 169Tm, is electron capture, and the primary mode after is beta emission. Required fields are marked *, You can use these HTML tags and attributes
. [3] Tm-doped halides in which Tm is in its 2+ valence state, are promising luminescent materials that can make efficient electricity generating windows based on the principle of a luminescent solar concentrator, possible.[35]. [3] When injected, thulium can cause degeneration of the liver and spleen and can also cause hemoglobin concentration to fluctuate. The first researcher to obtain nearly pure thulium was Charles James, a British expatriate working on a large scale at New Hampshire College in Durham, USA. In 1911 he reported his results, having used his discovered method of bromate fractional crystallization to do the purification. It currently has no commercial applications, although one of its isotopes, thulium-169, could be used as a radiation source for portable X-ray machines. After further processing, he obtained two new materials, one brown and the other green. [29], Thulium-170 is gaining popularity as an X-ray source for cancer treatment via brachytherapy ((sealed source radiation therapy)). Such sources do not need extensive radiation protection – only a small cup of lead. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for this, and other similar work, in 1914. [3] In the solar system, thulium exists in concentrations of 200 parts per trillion by weight and 1 part per trillion by moles. "Atomic weights of the elements 2013 (IUPAC Technical Report)", "Sur deux nouveaux éléments dans l'erbine", "Rediscovery of the elements: The Rare Earths–The Confusing Years", Development of New Tm-170 Radioactive Seeds for Brachytherapy, "Efficient luminescent solar concentrators based on self-absorption free, Tm, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thulium&oldid=978895789, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2014, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2013, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 17 September 2020, at 15:36. [11] Thulium ore occurs most commonly in China. Thulium was discovered in 1879 by the Swedish chemist Per Teodor Cleve. 6H2O are green or greenish-white. Thulium is pronounced as THOO-lee-em. Cleve named the oxide thulia and its element thulium after Thule, an Ancient Greek place name associated with Scandinavia or Iceland. The primary decay products before 169Tm are element 68 (erbium) isotopes, and the primary products after are element 70 (ytterbium) isotopes. The metal can be isolated through reduction of its oxide with lanthanum metal or by calcium reduction in a closed container. [33] Because thulium fluoresces with a blue color when exposed to ultraviolet light, thulium is put into euro banknotes as a measure against counterfeiting. The atomic … [22], High-purity thulium oxide was first offered commercially in the late 1950s, as a result of the adoption of ion-exchange separation technology. [30] This isotope has a half-life of 128.6 days and five major emission lines of comparable intensity (at 7.4, 51.354, 52.389, 59.4 and 84.253 keV). [27] The wavelength of thulium-based lasers is very efficient for superficial ablation of tissue, with minimal coagulation depth in air or in water. Thulium is the least abundant of the naturally occurring rare earth elements. 628 Hofstadter Road, Suite 6Newport News, VA 23606, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility is managed by, Jefferson Science Associates, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy. Cleve used the same method Carl Gustaf Mosander used to discover lanthanum , erbium and terbium , he looked for impurities in the oxides of other rare earth elements. Cleve named the brown material holmia and the green material thulia. I hope you find an answer to your question, but if your don't then please send me your question via email, comment or via Google+ and I'll try and answer it. The brown substance was an oxide of the element holmium and was given the name holmia by Cleve. [32], Thulium has been used in high-temperature superconductors similarly to yttrium. Thulium is often found with minerals containing yttrium and gadolinium.