Demetri Ivanovich Mendeleev looked for some system of classification of the elements and that on atomic weights seemed the most promising. His first table was printed in February of 1869. There was great interest in his table, but by around the 1870's he gave the predictions of missing elements. By the mid to late 1870's gallium, scandium, and germanium was discovered. Scandium being discovered by Lars (Lorenz) Fredrick Nilson in 1879. He discovered scandium from a 63gram sample of concentrate, which he then through thermal decomposition he was left with 0.35grams. He took this new earth and came to the conclusion that it was different from the lanthanons by it weak basicity. He rationed he had in his a possession a new element which he called Scandium, in honor of Scandinavia, where the minerals containing the earth were originally found. Through more research and chemical reactions, he was able to isolate several grams of scandium oxide of high purity, he with that was able to establish it atomic weight of 44grams.
Scandium is the lightest member of the rare earth group of elements and is the first transition metal in the periodic table. It displays some unique characteristics because of its position on the periodic table and its electronic configuration. It has 3 valence electrons beyond argon rare gas core and is associated with the rare earth group metals. Being the first transition metal it is a light element, but it has a relatively high melting point and strength, this is compared to the corresponding properties of the non-transition metals that precede it. Some of its properties such as electrical and magnetic properties, are very sensitive to impurities at low temperatures. It has only two physical forms, which are polymorphic crystalline at STP, and body-centered cubic at high temperature. It is also paramagnetic. Scandium metal is considered to have an intermediate refractory melting point.
Aluminum Bat Manufacturing Aluminum alloy bats have grown in popularity over the past few decades. While Major League Baseball only allows the use of wooden bats, almost every high school and college in the nation has made the switch to aluminum alloys. The reasons behind these switches are bot...
