Holmium Reduction

Chemical Formula: Ho
Present as:

Holmium is a chemical element with symbol Ho and atomic number 67. Part of the lanthanide series, holmium is a rare earth element. Elemental holmium is a relatively soft and malleable silvery-white metal. It is too reactive to be found uncombined in nature, but when isolated, is relatively stable in dry air at room temperature. However, it reacts with water and corrodes readily, and will also burn in air when heated.
Holmium is found in the minerals monazite and gadolinite, and is usually commercially extracted from monazite using ion exchange techniques. Its compounds in nature, and in nearly all of its laboratory chemistry, form a trivalent cation, containing Ho(III) ions. Trivalent holmium ions have fluorescent properties similar to many other rare earth ions (while yielding their own set of unique emission light lines), and holmium ions are thus used in the same way as some other rare earths in certain laser and glass colorant applications.
Holmium strongly absorbs neutrons and is used as a “burnable poison” in nuclear reactors. Holmium also has the highest magnetic permeability of any element and is used as the polepiece in some static magnets. Most holmium salts are quite soluble.

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