Promethium, a rare earth element, has been a bit of a mystery in the chemistry world, but scientists are finally unraveling its secrets. Even though promethium might not be as vital as its ...

First discovered 80 years ago in 1945, Promethium is a lanthanide (one of a series of 15 metallic chemicals also known as rare earth metals) with the atomic number 61, and in the following eight ...

Furthermore, promethium shows promise in radioactive imaging and cancer treatments. Currently, the Department of Energy Isotope Program remains the sole global producer of promethium-147.

One such element is Promethium, and a new study from scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has successfully analyzed chemical properties of the rare earth metal some 80 years after its ...

"Because promethium is radioactive, once it's decaying, it's getting transmuted into the adjacent element, which is samarium," Ivanov said. "So you will have a tiny amount of contamination in the ...

Promethium is very rare; only about a pound occurs naturally in the Earth's crust at any given time. Unlike other rare earth elements, only minute quantities of synthetic promethium are available ...

Promethium is radioactive, but it has an incredibly short half-life. This plays a large role in its scarcity. The longest half-life of a promethium isotope, promethium-145, is only 17.7 years.

First discovered 80 years ago in 1945, Promethium is a lanthanide (one of a series of 15 metallic chemicals also known as rare earth metals) with the atomic number 61, and in the following eight ...