@sellathechemist@mastodon.social
Post #3703745
2026-07-09 22:00 UTC
@mxchara@seattle.pink A very smart man who thought that because they all dissolved in acid to give 3+ ions of almost identical size that there was no more to discuss in a textbook. The year was 1975-ish…. The lanthanides continue to surprise us with weird oxidation states and ever more bizarre bonding and magnetism.
Replies (1)
-
@mxchara@seattle.pink 2026-07-09 22:04
@sellathechemist@mastodon.social Ah! I suppose that's roughly true, but there must have already been considerable attention given to better ways to discriminate among lanthanide ions with "wet" chemical techniques because they're byproducts of nuclear fission. I remember a few of the general rules, like the solubility differences among double sulfates and the tendency of certain lanthanides to form more strongly basic oxides than others.