Information on Vanadium
Vanadium is an element found in nature that can also be reproduced in a laboratory. It is extremely common and can be found in trace amounts nearly everywhere both above and below the Earth's surface. It closely resembles chromium in its atomic structure and can be combined with other elements to serve important roles in industry and technology.
Other People Are Reading
-
History
-
In 1801, a chemist named Andres del Rio was the first person to discover vanadium. Del Rio named the new element "erythronium" and mailed samples of his discovery to the Institute de France. The institute analyzed del Rio's findings and concluded that his discovery was not a new element, but rather tainted samples of chromium. In 1830, vanadium was "rediscovered" by Nils Sefstrom in Sweden. This time, the scientific community recognized that although similar to chromium, Sefstrom's discovery qualified as a separate element. The element was named "vanadium" in honor of the Swedish goddess Vanadis.
Features
-
Vanadium can range from bright white to silver and even a dull gray in color. It has a natural resistance to the corrosion that results from salt and acids, making it a useful material in heavy industry. Although soft in its pure form, vanadium hardens well when combined with other metals. Vanadium is slightly radioactive and does not accept neutrons well. Trace amounts of vanadium react with emerald to give the stone its green coloring.
-
Function
-
Due to its ability to resist corrosion, vanadium is commonly used in the creation of pipes and tubing. Superconductive magnets are also a product of vanadium when it is combined with the element gallium. But the most common use of vanadium is in the creation of ferrovanadium, an extremely strong substance used as an additive in the creation of steel. Nearly 80 percent of all the vanadium produced is used in the production of ferrovanadium. Because of this, vanadium can be found in cars, airplanes and steel tools.
Sources
-
Vanadium is a trace element and as such cannot be mined by itself. It is commonly found during the process of mining iron, aluminum and coal. Oil wells also have been known to contain vanadium. Small amounts of vanadium have been discovered everywhere from within meteorites to the human body. A particularly high concentration of vanadium can be found in petroleum. But the majority of the world's vanadium supply is not mined but artificially created by a process known as calcium reduction.
Considerations
-
At any given time, your body can contain from 10 to 60 milligrams of vanadium. The toxicity of vanadium is low, and it is beneficial in increasing metabolism in humans and animals. Some athletes will include vanadium in their bodybuilding regimens in the form of vanadyl sulfate supplements. Overexposure to vanadium is rare and is only known to cause minor irritation of the respiratory tract. The human body processes and excretes vanadium rapidly--therefore, even individuals such as boiler workers, who are continually exposed to large amounts of the element, suffer few complications from the exposure.
-
References
- Photo Credit Leyo/wikimedia.org
