Neodymium
. Neodymium, symbol Nd, silvery metallic element with an atomic number of 60. Neodymium is one of the rare earth elements in the lanthanide series of the periodic table . Neodymium was isolated in 1885 by the Austrian chemist Baron Carl Auer von Welsbach, who separated it from praseodymium. Neodymium and praseodymium had previously been regarded as a single element, called didymium. Neodymium ranks 27th in order of abundance of the elements in the earth's crust. It forms trivalent salts, which are rose-red or reddish-violet in color. The metal's oxide, Nd2O3, is used in the glass of color-television tubes to increase contrast, and in lasers . Neodymium melts at about 1021° C (about 1870° F), boils at about 3074° C (about 5565° F), and has a specific gravity of 7.01. The atomic weight of neodymium is 144.24.