What is Niobium?
As one of the chemical elements that are considered to be transition metals, niobium is used in a number of different applications. From use in alloys that are ideal for large structures to use in electronics, niobium is found in many places and as part of a number of products. Here is some background on the history of niobium and how the element is used today. First discovered by Charles Hatchett at the dawn of the 19th century, niobium was isolated from an ore sample that had been sent to England by John Winthrop, the first governor of Connecticut. Granted the name of columbium, the element was sometimes confused with tantalum, which has very similar properties. The designation of the name “niobium” for the element came about in 1846, when Heinrich Rose and Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac rediscovered the chemical element, and was able to more clearly define the specific properties than had been done previously. The two names for the element were used interchangeably until 1950, w
As one of the chemical elements that are considered to be transition metals, niobium is used in a number of different applications. From use in alloys that are ideal for large structures to use in electronics, niobium is found in many places and as part of a number of products. Here is some background on the history of niobium and how the element is used today. First discovered by Charles Hatchett at the dawn of the 19th century, niobium was isolated from an ore sample that had been sent to England by John Winthrop, the first governor of Connecticut. Granted the name of columbium, the element was sometimes confused with tantalum, which has very similar properties. The designation of the name “niobium?for the element came about in 1846, when Heinrich Rose and Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac rediscovered the chemical element, and was able to more clearly define the specific properties than had been done previously. The two names for the element were used interchangeably until 1950, wh
Niobium is a shiny-white, soft, metallic chemical element; its symbol is Nb. The name of the element is derived from the Greek mythological Niobe, the daughter of Tantalus. Niobium has an atomic number of 41 and an atomic weight of 92.9064. A ductile metal, it has a melting point of 2,468 deg C (4,474.4 deg F), a boiling point of 4,742 deg C (8,567.6 deg F), and a density of 8.51 g/cu cm at 20 deg C (68 deg F). The element was discovered by Charles Hatchett in 1801 in a sample of ore sent to England more than a hundred years earlier by the first governor of Connecticut. The metallic element was first prepared in 1864 by Christian Blomstrand of Sweden by reduction of the heated chloride in a stream of hydrogen. Despite the adoption of the name niobium by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, the alternative name columbium is still used by metallurgists in the United States. Niobium is found worldwide, and principal commercial sources are niobite (columbite), niobitetant
