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Thulium
Thulium is a chemical element, in the periodic table that has the symbol Tm and atomic number 69. 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.
Applications
Thulium has been used to create lasers but high production costs have prevented other commercial uses from being developed.
History
Thulium was discovered by Swedish chemist Per Teodor Cleve in 1879 by looking for impurities in the oxides of other rare earth elements (this was the same method Carl Gustaf Mosander earlier used to discover some other rare earths elements). Cleve started by removing all of the known contaminants of erbia (Er2O3) and upon additional processing, obtained two new substances; one brown and one green. The brown substance turned out to be the oxide of the element holmium and was named holmia by Cleve and the green substance was the oxide of an unknown element. Cleve named the oxide thulia and its element thulium after Thule, an ancient Roman name for a mythical country in the far north, perhaps Scandinavia.
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