Dysprosium - Atomic Number 66 Traditional Cache
Khoda: Beacon has been chopped up by the tree cutters. No longer a suitable beacon. So time to go.
Dysprosium - Atomic Number 66
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This cache is the first in a series of 22 hides to be named after chemical elements and placed on Ramsey streets with the same name. The series will speed up the qualification requirements for challenge cache GC2P5TJ, since some already published elements require traveling great distances. The only other cache named Dysprosium is located in Texas, 1070 miles away.
History: Dysprosium was discovered in 1886 by French chemist Andre Lecoq de Boisbaudran. However, it was not isolated at this time. Neither the metal nor the oxide was available in pure form until ion exchange separation and metallographic reduction techniques were developed by Spedding and associates in 1950.
Sources: Dysprosium occurs, along with other lanthanide series elements, in minerals such as xenotime, fergusonite, and gadolinite. Its most significant sources, however, are monaziate and bastnasite. It is difficult to separate as a metal, but can be extracted as a salt from ores with use of sulphuric acid, hydrocholric acid, and sodium hydroxide. Dysprosium can also be isolated through the reduction of dysprosium triflouride with calcium metal.
Uses:
- Materials for lasers when combined with elements like vanadium
- Data storage devices, like compact discs
- Control-rods for nuclear reactors because it readily absorbs neutrons
- In alloys for making magnets
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