Vanadium, embedded in a kind of iron ore, was discovered by a Swedish chemist named Sefstrom. N.G (1787-1845) in 1830 and the chemist confirmed vanadium as a new element. Vanadium is named after Sweden's beautiful goddess Vanadies because it is a polyvalent element (from +5 to +2), the compounds of which in oxidation state all show beautiful colors.

       As one of the vanadium group elements in the periodic table of elements, vanadium has an atomic number of 23, an atomic weight of 50.9415, a melting point of 1,890℃ and a boiling point of 3,000℃. Vanadium is a silver-gray metal that is hard and non-magnetic. Vanadium is the 17th most common element in earth's crust. The main minerals of vanadium are titanomagnetite, patronite, lead vanadium ore (or brown lead ore) and uvanite.

       Vanadium is a rare refractory metal with silver gray color, certain ductility and high melting point. Vanadium is less active at normal temperature. It does not react with air, water, caustic alkali or non-oxidizing acid at normal temperature. However, under the same circumstance, it is soluble in hydrofluoric acid, and is also soluble in strong oxidizing acid, such as nitric acid and aqua regia. At high temperatures, vanadium reacts with most non-metallic elements and with molten caustic.

       At present, the main sources of vanadium are Australia, South Africa, Russia, China and other countries that rely on recovering vanadium from petroleum residues.

Atomic Properties

Crystal structure: body-centered cube

Space group: lm3m

lattice parameter: a=0.302nm

Coordination number: 8

Number of atoms: 23

Atomic weight: 50.9415

Isotope: 47,48,49,50*,51*,52 stable

Stable electronic shell structure: 1s2,2s2,2p6,3s2,3p6,4s2,3d3