Ytterbium

"Ytterbium ( /ɨˈtɜrbiəm/ i-tur-bee-əm) is a chemical element with symbol Yb and atomic number 70. It is the fourteenth and penultimate element in the lanthanide series, or last element in the f-block, which is the basis of the relative stability of the +2 oxidation state. However, like the other lanthanides, the most common oxidation state is +3, seen in its oxide, halides and other compounds. In an aqueous solution, like compounds of other late lanthanides, soluble ytterbium compounds form complexes with nine water molecules."

"In 1878, the Swiss chemist Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac separated in the rare earth of "erbia" another independent component, which he called "ytterbia", for Ytterby, the Swedish village near where he found the new component of erbium. He suspected that ytterbia was a compound of a new element that he called "ytterbium" (note that in total four elements were named after the village, the others being yttrium, terbium and erbium). In 1907, the new earth "lutecia" was separated from ytterbia, from which the element "lutecium" (now lutetium) was extracted. A relatively pure sample of the metal was obtained only in 1953. In present, ytterbium is mainly used as a dopant of stainless steel or active laser media, and less often as a gamma ray source."

"Natural ytterbium is a mixture of seven stable isotopes, which altogether are present at concentrations of 3 ppm. This element is mined in China, the United States, Brazil, and India in form of the minerals monazite, euxenite, and xenotime. The ytterbium concentration is low, because the element is found among many other rare earth elements; moreover, it is among the least abundant ones. Once extracted and prepared, ytterbium is somewhat hazardous as an eye and skin irritant. The metal is a fire and explosion hazard."