Appearance and Characteristics
Harmful effects:
Erbium is considered to be moderately toxic.
Characteristics:
Erbium is a bright, soft, malleable, silvery-white metal. It is one of the rare earth metals. The metal slowly tarnishes in air, reacts slowly with water and dissolves in acids. When present in compounds, erbium exists mostly in the trivalent state, Er3+. Erbium salts are a rose pink color.
Uses of Erbium
Erbium isotopes are good neutron absorbers and are used in nuclear reactor control rods.
The oxide erbia is used as a pink coloring agent in glazes and glasses.
Erbium is used in alloys especially with vanadium to decrease the hardness of metals.
It is also used in amplifiers and lasers.
Erbium is used in photographic filters to absorb infrared light.
Erbium is also used in yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) medical lasers for procedures involving skin resurfacing such as acne scars, mole removal tattoo removal and warts. Abundance and Isotopes