| Title: | All about Scandinavia |
| Moderator: | TLE::SAVAGE |
| Created: | Wed Dec 11 1985 |
| Last Modified: | Tue Jun 03 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 603 |
| Total number of notes: | 4325 |
Several chemical/physical elements are named
after the Swedish town of Ytterby.
These elements are Ytterbium, Yttrium and Terbium.
They are semi-metallic and/or rare-earth elements.
So...what kind of town is Ytterby, Sweden? Big, small,
old, new? Is Ytterby a mining or metallurgical town?
Has someone in/from Ytterby been making a name for himself
(or for Ytterby), by discovering lots of new elements?
And, to keep the record straight (on the slagheap of
history), what is *the* correct pronunciation?
:*)
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 421.1 | explanatory postscript | TARKIN::MCALLEN | Mon Oct 01 1990 19:22 | 2 | |
p.s. - I've been wondering about this for some time now.
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| 421.2 | More on Ytterby and chemical elements | MLTVAX::SAVAGE | Neil @ Spit Brook | Fri Oct 12 1990 10:51 | 19 |
According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica III, in 1794, Johan Gadolin
obtained a mixture of metalic oxides from mineral samples taken from
Ytterby. He called this mixture (which he at first thought might be
the oxide of a single element) "yttria". Over the span of more than a
century, this mixture yielded nine elements, including yttrium,
scandium, and the heavy rare-earth metals ranging from terbium (atomic
number 65) to lutetrium (atomic number 71).
Webster' International Dictionary adds the interesting fact that
Ytterby is where the mineral gadolinite is found. It would seem that
the someone making a name for himself was old Johan.
In English, the name translates roughly to, "outer village" or perhaps
"forward village" as in being farthest from civilization and closest to
the wilderness or frontier.
I believe the "y" is very short, almost like the "i" in the English
word, "it". It must be a very small town; so for, I haven't been able
to find it on my map of Sweden.
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