Atomic Number: 41 Atomic Weight: 92.90638
Melting Point: 2750 K (2477°C or 4491°F) Boiling Point: 5017 K (4744°C or 8571°F)
Density: 8.57 grams per cubic centimeter Phase at Room Temperature: Solid
Element Classification: Metal
Period Number: 5 Group Number: 5 Group Name: none
What's in a name? Named for the Greek mythological figure Niobe.
Say what? Niobium is pronounced as ni-OH-bee-um.
History and Uses:
The story of niobium's discovery is a bit confusing. The first governor of Connecticut, John Winthrop the Younger, discovered a new mineral around 1734. He named the mineral columbite ((Fe, Mn, Mg)(Nb, Ta)2O6) and sent a sample of it to the British Museum in London, England. The columbite sat in the museum's mineral collection for years until it was analyzed by Charles Hatchett in 1801. Hatchett could tell that there was an unknown element in the columbite, but he was not able to isolate it. He named the new element columbium.
The fate of columbium took a drastic turn in 1809 when William Hyde Wollaston, an English chemist and physicist, compared the minerals columbite and …show more content…
Superconductive wire can be made from an alloy of niobium and titanium which can then be used to make superconductive magnets. Other alloys of niobium, such as those with tin and aluminum, are superconductive as well. Pure niobium is itself a superconductor when it is cooled below 9.25 K (-442.75°F). Superconductive niobium cavities are at the heart of a machine built at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. This machine, called an electron accelerator, is used by scientists to study the quark structure of matter. The accelerator's 338 niobium cavities are bathed in liquid helium and accelerateelectrons to nearly the speed of