Thulium

Thulium is a chemical element that has the symbol Tm and atomic number 69 in the periodic table. A lanthanide element, thulium is the least abundant of the rare earths and its metal is easy to work, has a bright silvery-gray luster and can be cut by a knife. It also has some corrosion resistance in dry air and good ductility. Naturally occurring thulium is made entirely of the stable isotope Tm-169.

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Thulium has been used to create lasers but high production costs have prevented other commercial uses from being developed. Other uses/potential uses:

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• When stable thulium (Tm-169) is bombarded in a nuclear reactor it can later serve as a radiation source in portable X-ray devices.
• The unstable Tm-171 could possibly be used as an energy source.
• Tm-169 has potential use in ceramic magnetic materials called ferrites, which are used in microwave equipment.

Chemical element: A chemical element, often called simply element, is the class of atoms which contain the same number of protons....

Atomic number: The atomic number (Z) is a term used in chemistry and physics to represent the number of protons found in the nucleus of an atom. In an atom of neutral charge, the number of electrons typically equals the atomic number....

Periodic table: The periodic table of the chemical elements, also called the Mendeleev periodic table, is a tabular display of the known chemical elements. First created by Dmitri Mendeleev, the elements are arranged by electron configuration so that many chemical properties follow a regular pattern across the tabl...