Cerium (Substance) AKA Ce
Cerium
1803 AD
AKA Ce
Soft, ductile, and silvery-white metal that tarnishes when exposed to air, and it is soft enough to be cut with a steel kitchen knife. Cerium is the second element in the lanthanide series, and while it often shows the +3 oxidation state characteristic of the series, it also has a stable +4 state that does not oxidize water. It is also considered one of the rare-earth elements. Cerium has no biological role in humans and is not very toxic.
Despite always occurring in combination with the other rare-earth elements in minerals such as those of the monazite and bastnäsite groups, cerium is easy to extract from its ores, as it can be distinguished among the lanthanides by its unique ability to be oxidized to the +4 state. It is the most common of the lanthanides, followed by neodymium, lanthanum, and praseodymium. It is the 26th-most abundant element, making up 66 ppm of the Earth's crust, half as much as chlorine and five times as much as lead.
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