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The electronic configuration of most neutral gas-phase lanthanide atoms is [Xe]6s 2 4f n, where n is 56 less than the atomic number Z. Exceptions are La, Ce, Gd, and Lu, which have 4f n −1 5d 1 (though even then 4f n is a low-lying excited state for La, Ce, and Gd; for Lu, the 4f shell is already full, and the fifteenth electron has no choice ...
Among the lanthanides, lanthanum is exceptional as it has no 4f electrons as a single gas-phase atom. Thus it is only very weakly paramagnetic, unlike the strongly paramagnetic later lanthanides (with the exceptions of the last two, ytterbium and lutetium, where the 4f shell is completely full). [20]
Here [Ne] refers to the core electrons which are the same as for the element neon (Ne), the last noble gas before phosphorus in the periodic table. The valence electrons (here 3s 2 3p 3) are written explicitly for all atoms. Electron configurations of elements beyond hassium (element 108) have never been measured; predictions are used below.
Many textbooks however show group 3 as containing scandium, yttrium, lanthanum, and actinium, a format based on historically wrongly measured electron configurations: [4] Lev Landau and Evgeny Lifshitz already considered it to be "incorrect" in 1948, [5] but the issue was brought to a wide debate only in 1982 by William B. Jensen.
The seven 4f and 6s electrons are valence electrons. [5] In forming compounds, the atom loses its two outermost electrons and one 4f-electron, which belongs to an open subshell. The element's atomic radius is the second largest among all the lanthanides but is only slightly greater than those of the neighboring elements. [5]
Configurations of elements 109 and above are not available. Predictions from reliable sources have been used for these elements. Grayed out electron numbers indicate subshells filled to their maximum. Bracketed noble gas symbols on the left represent inner configurations that are the same in each period. Written out, these are: He, 2, helium : 1s 2
Lanthanide metals react exothermically with hydrogen to form LnH 2, dihydrides. [1] With the exception of Eu and Yb, which resemble the Ba and Ca hydrides (non-conducting, transparent salt-like compounds),they form black pyrophoric, conducting compounds [6] where the metal sub-lattice is face centred cubic and the H atoms occupy tetrahedral sites. [1]
Europium is a silvery-white metal of the lanthanide series that reacts readily with air to form a dark oxide coating. It is the most chemically reactive, least dense, and softest of the lanthanide elements. It is soft enough to be cut with a knife. Europium was isolated in 1901 and named after the continent of Europe. [9]