All practice pages/Interatomic theory/Elements
Element 70, a lanthanide
The fourth element named after Ytterby, and the heart of some of the most precise clocks ever built.
Period 6, in the lanthanide row set below the main table. The other lanthanides are tinted, and every cell opens its own article.
Like the other lanthanides, it gives up three electrons to form the Yb³⁺ ion in most of its compounds.
Found in xenotime, monazite and ion-adsorption clays, mostly in China.
Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac separated a new earth, ytterbia, from erbium oxide in 1878 and named it after Ytterby. In 1907 chemists showed that ytterbia itself hid a second element, lutetium.
Ytterbium-doped fiber lasers cut and weld metal in factories, ytterbium lattice clocks are among the most precise timekeepers ever built, and ytterbium strengthens some stainless steels. Its electrical resistance changes under pressure, so it goes into gauges that measure the stress from earthquakes and explosions.