What chemical is La?

Lanthanum is a metallic rare earth element with atomic number 57 and atomic weight 138.9055. The name of this element comes from Greek, which means "hidden".

Lanthanum was discovered in 1839 65438+ 10 by Karl Gustav Mosander C.G. of karolinska institutet, Stockholm. It was extracted from the cerium found in 1803.

Mosander noticed that most of his cerium oxide samples were insoluble, while some were soluble. He concluded that it was an oxide of a new element. The news of his discovery spread, but Mosander was strangely silent.

Extended data

Main uses of lanthanum:

1, metal lanthanum shell is used to produce Ni-MH battery, which is one of the most important applications of lanthanum.

2. It is mainly used to make special alloy precision optical glass and high refractive fiber plate, and is suitable for cameras, video cameras, microscope lenses and advanced optical instrument prisms.

3. It is used as a catalyst for various reactions, such as oxidation of carbon monoxide when cadmium oxide is doped and hydrogenation of carbon monoxide to methane when palladium is doped.

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