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What
the name means:
The word neodymium derives from two Greek
words, neos meaning “new” and
didymos meaning “twin”.
Who
identified
neodymium?
Neodymium was identified by the Austrian
scientist, Carl Auer von Welsbach in 1885.
About
neodymium: Neodymium
is one of the members of the group of
elements know as the rare earths. There are
sixteen elements in this group. The word
“earth” was used to describe the oxide of
metals. The word “rare” was applied to
these sixteen elements because it was
believed that their metal oxides were not
present in any great quantity in the
Earth’s crust. In fact, for most of the
elements in this group, this is not the
case. Their metal oxides are quite
abundant, although they often occur mixed
with other compounds. |