April 2020
Intermediate to advanced
296 pages
5h 20m
English

“Rare” yttrium’s the first of four from Ytterby’s ol’ seams,
Its YAG (when dop’d in solid-state) shoots über-laser beams.
Its oxide quells hot shocks in glass,
Its “1-2-3” conducts—top-class!
Short-liv’d Y-90’s “beta bits” thwart cancer’s evil schemes.
it-ree-ums
GROUP 3 TRANSITION METAL
Yttrium (pronounced it-ree-um) is formally included among the rare-earth elements but isn’t particularly rare; in fact, it’s more abundant than silver and lead. But its chemical properties are similar to rare-earths, and it tends to exist alongside them in minerals. You ...