Get the Facts About the Element Vanadium (2024)

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Vanadium (atomic number 23 with symbol V) is one of the transition metals. You've probably never encountered it in pure form, but it is found in some types of steel. Here are essential element facts about vanadium and its atomic data.

VanadiumBasic Facts

Atomic Number: 23

Symbol: V

Atomic Weight: 50.9415

Discovery: Depending who you ask: del Río 1801 or Nils Gabriel Sefstrom 1830 (Sweden)

Electron Configuration: [Ar] 4s² 3d³

Word Origin: Vanadis, a Scandinavian goddess. Named after the goddess because of vanadium's beautiful multicolored compounds.

Isotopes: There are 20 known isotopes of vanadium ranging from V-23 to V-43. Vanadium has only one stable isotope: V-51. V-50 is nearly stable with a half-life of 1.4 x 10¹⁷ years. Natural vanadium is a mostly a mixture of the two isotopes, vanadium-50 (0.24%) and vanadium-51 (99.76%).

Properties: Vanadium has a melting point of 1890+/-10°C, boiling point of 3380°C, specific gravity of 6.11 (18.7°C), with a valence of 2, 3, 4, or 5. Pure vanadium is a soft, ductile bright white metal. Vanadium has good corrosion resistance to alkalis, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, and saltwater, but it oxidizes readily at temperatures exceeding 660°C. The metal has good structural strength and a low fission neutron cross section. Vanadium and all of its compounds are toxic and should be handled with care.

Uses: Vanadium is used in nuclear applications, for producing rust-resistant spring and high-speed tool steels, and as a carbide stabilizer in making steels. Approximately 80% of the vanadium that is produced is used as a steel additive or ferrovanadium. Vanadium foil is used as a bonding agent for cladding steel with titanium. Vanadium pentoxide is used as a catalyst, as a mordant for dyeing and printing fabrics, in the manufacture of aniline black, and in the ceramics industry. Vanadium-gallium tape is used to produce superconducting magnets.

Sources: Vanadium occurs in approximately 65 minerals, including vanadinite, carnotite, patronite, and roscoelite. It is also found in certain iron ores and phosphate rock and in some crude oils as organic complexes. Vanadium is found in small percentages in meteorites. High purity ductile vanadium may be obtained by reducing vanadium trichloride with magnesium or a magnesium-sodium mixture. Vanadium metal also may be produced by calcium reduction of V₂O₅ in a pressure vessel.

VanadiumPhysical Data

• Element Classification: Transition Metal
• Density (g/cc): 6.11
• Electronegativity: 1.63
• Electron Affinity: 50.6 kJ/mol
• Melting Point (K): 2160
• Boiling Point (K): 3650
• Appearance: soft, ductile, silvery-white metal
• Atomic Radius (pm): 134
• Atomic Volume (cc/mol): 8.35
• Covalent Radius (pm): 122
• Ionic Radius: 59 (+5e) 74 (+3e)
• Specific Heat (@20°C J/g mol): 0.485
• Fusion Heat (kJ/mol): 17.5
• Evaporation Heat (kJ/mol): 460
• Debye Temperature (K): 390.00
• Pauling Negativity Number: 1.63
• First Ionizing Energy (kJ/mol): 650.1
• Oxidation States: 5, 4, 3, 2, 0
• Lattice Structure: Body-Centered Cubic
• Lattice Constant (Å): 3.020
• CAS Registry: 7440-62-2

Vanadium Trivia

• Vanadium was initially discovered in 1801 by the Spanish-Mexican mineralogist Andres Manuel del Río. He extracted the new element from a sample of lead ore and found salts formed a multitude of colors. His original name for this colorful element was panchromium, meaning all colors.
• del Rio renamed his element 'erythronium' (Greek for 'red') because the crystals of vanadium would turn red upon heating.
• The French chemist Hippolyte Victor Collet-Descotils claimed del Río's element was actually chromium. del Río retracted his discovery claim.
• Swedish chemist Nils Sefström rediscovered the element in 1831 and named the element vanadium after the Scandinavian goddess of beauty Vanadis.
• Vanadium compounds are all toxic. Toxicity tends to increase with oxidation state.
• The first commercial use of vanadium steel was the chassis of the Ford Model T.
• Vanadium is paramagnetic.
• The abundance of vanadium in the Earth's crust is 50 parts per million.
• The abundance of vanadium in seawater is 0.18 parts per billion.
• Vanadium(V) oxide (V₂O₅) is used as a catalyst in the Contact Process to manufacture sulfuric acid.
• Vanadium is found in the proteins known as vanabins. Some sea species of sea cucumbers and sea squirts have yellow blood because of the vanabins in their blood.

Sources

• Featherstonhaugh, George William (1831). "New Metal, provisionally called Vanadium". The Monthly American Journal of Geology and Natural Science: 69.
• Marden, J. W.; Rich, M. N. (1927). "Vanadium". Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. 19 (7): 786–788. doi:10.1021/ie50211a012
• Sigel, Astrid; Sigel, Helmut, eds. (1995). Vanadium and Its Role in Life. Metal Ions in Biological Systems. 31. CRC. ISBN 978-0-8247-9383-8.
• Weast, Robert (1984). CRC, Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Boca Raton, Florida: Chemical Rubber Company Publishing. pp. E110. ISBN 0-8493-0464-4.