Ho or holmium is a rare earth element belonging to the lanthanide series. Let us discuss holmium in this article.
Holmium is a soft, silvery, and malleable metal. It reacts with water and burns in the air when heated. Monazite and gadolinite are the minerals of the holmium where the metal is extracted by the ion-exchange method.
In this article, we will discuss the position of holmium in the periodic table, its melting as well as boiling point, oxidation state, ionization energy, allotrope, isotopes and many other facts.
1. Holmium symbol
The atomic symbol of Holmium is “Ho” which is coming from the English alphabet. As H is used for the atomic symbol of hydrogen so we used “Ho” as the abbreviation of the element.
2. Holmium group in the periodic table
The group of Holmium in the periodic table is unknown because all lanthanide elements are present in between the 3rd and 4th groups of the periodic table. The poor shielding effect of 4f is responsible for the lanthanide contraction.
3. Holmium period in the periodic table
Holmium belongs to period 6 in the periodic table because it has more than 54 electrons in the valence shell. Up to period 5, there will be 54th elements that are well placed, so the remaining 13 electrons get the 6th period in the lanthanide series.
4. Holmium block in the periodic table
Holmium is an f-block element because the valence electrons are present in the f orbital. Ho also has s, p, and d orbitals but the outermost electrons are present in the 4f orbital according to the Aufbau principle.
5. Holmium atomic number
The atomic number of Holmium is 67, which means it has 67 protons because the number of protons is always equal to the number of electrons.
6. Holmium atomic Weight
The atomic weight of Holmium is 164 on the 12C scale which means the weight of Holmium is the 164/12th part of the weight of the carbon element. The actual weight of Ho is 164.93 due to the presence of different isotopes of different weights.
7. Holmium Electronegativity according to Pauling
The electronegativity of Holmium is 1.23 according to the Pauling scale. Ho is rare earth metal so it possesses an electropositive character which reflects in its electronegativity value.
8. Holmium atomic Density
The atomic density of Holmium is 8.88 g/cm3 which can be calculated by dividing the mass of Holmium by its volume.
Density is calculated by the formula, atomic density = atomic mass / atomic volume.
9. Holmium melting point
The melting point of Holmium lies between 14740 C to 1747K temperature because it is ductile metal so the van der Waal’s force of attraction in the crystal form is high.
10. Holmium boiling point
The boiling point of Holmium is 26950C to 2968K because it is a heavier metal and metal needs more energy to boil off to gain the same pressure as the atmosphere.
11. Holmium Van der Waals radius
The Van der Waal’s radius of Holmium is 233 pm because it has 6s which has more spatial distribution but also has relativistic contraction and 4f orbital so it has a poor screening effect. So, the nucleus attraction force for the outermost orbital increases, and this decreases the radius.
- Van der Waal’s radius is, Rv = dA-A / 2
- dA-A is the distance between two adjacent spheres of the atomic molecule or the summation of a radius of two atoms.
12. Holmium ionic radius
The ionic radius of Holmium is 233 pm which is the same as the covalent radius because for Holmium the cation and anion are the same and it is not an ionic molecule. Rather, it forms by the covalent interaction between two Holmium atoms.
13. Holmium isotopes
Elements having the same number of electrons but different mass numbers are called isotopes of the original element. Let us discuss the isotopes of Holmium.
Holmium has 69 isotopes depending on the neutral numbers which are –
- 140Ho
- 141Ho
- 141mHo
- 142Ho
- 143Ho
- 144Ho
- 145Ho
- 145mHo
- 146Ho
- 147Ho
- 148Ho
- 148mHo
- 149Ho
- 149m1Ho
- 149m2Ho
- 150Ho
- 150m1Ho
- 150m2Ho
- 151Ho
- 151mHo
- 152Ho
- 152m1Ho
- 152m2Ho
- 153Ho
- 153m1Ho
- 153m2Ho
- 154Ho
- 154mHo
- 155Ho
- 155mHo
- 156Ho
- 156m1Ho
- 156m2Ho
- 157Ho
- 158Ho
- 158m1Ho
- 158m2Ho
- 159Ho
- 159mHo
- 160Ho
- 160m1Ho
- 160m2Ho
- 161Ho
- 161mHo
- 162Ho
- 162mHo
- 163Ho
- 163mHo
- 164Ho
- 164mHo
- 165Ho
- 166Ho
- 166m1Ho
- 166m2Ho
- 167Ho
- 167mHo
- 168Ho
- 168m1Ho
- 168m2Ho
- 168m3Ho
- 169Ho
- 170Ho
- 170mHo
- 171Ho
- 172Ho
- 173Ho
- 174Ho
- 175Ho
Among 69 isotopes only 6 isotopes of Holmium are stable which are discussed below –
Isotope | Natural Abundance |
Half-life | Emitting particles |
No. of Neutron |
163Ho | Synthetic | 4570 y | € | 96 |
164Ho | Synthetic | 29 mins | € | 97 |
165Ho | 100% | stable | N/A | 98 |
166Ho | Synthetic | 26.73 h | β | 99 |
166m1Ho | Synthetic | 1200 y | N/A | 99 |
167Ho | Synthetic | 3.1 h | β | 100 |
14. Holmium electronic shell
The shell surrounding the nucleus as per principal quantum number and holding the electrons is called an electronic shell. Let us discuss the electronic shell of Holmium.
The electronic shell distribution of Holmium is 2 8 18 29 8 2 because it has s, p, d, and f orbitals around the nucleus. Since it has more than 54 electrons and to arrange 67 electrons it needs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7th orbitals.
15. Holmium electron configurations
The electronic configuration of Holmium is 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p6 4d10 4f11 5s2 5p6 6s2 because it has 58 electrons and those electrons should be placed to the nearest orbital of the nucleus s, p, d, and f orbitals and denoted as [Xe]4f116s2.
16. Holmium energy of first ionization
The first ionization value for Holmium is 581 KJ/mol because the electron is removed from the 6s orbital which is subject to relativistic contraction.
17. Holmium energy of second ionization
The 2nd ionization energy of Holmium is 1140 KJ/mol because, in the 2nd ionization, electrons are removed from the same 6s orbital. Upon 2nd ionization, Ho does not lose its stability but the 2nd electron is removed from the excited state so it required much energy.
18. Holmium energy of third ionization
The third ionization energy for Holmium is 2204 KJ/mol because the third ionization occurs from 4f which has a poor shielding effect so the energy required is very high as Ho lacks 5d orbital.
19. Holmium oxidation states
+3 is the common oxidation state of lanthanide elements. But Holmium shows 0, +1, +2, +3, oxidation state because of the availability of electrons in its 6s and 4f orbitals and all the above oxidation state is stable for Ho.
20. Holmium CAS number
The CAS number of the Holmium molecule is 7440-60-0, which is given by the chemical abstracts service.
21. Holmium Chem Spider ID
The Chem Spider ID for Holmium is 22424. By using this number, we can evaluate all the chemical data related to the Holmium atom.
22. Holmium allotropic forms
Allotropes are elements or molecules with similar chemical properties but different physical properties. Let us discuss the allotropic form of Holmium.
Holmium has no allotropic form rather it has a poor shielding effect.
23. Holmium chemical classification
Holmium is classified into the following categories:
- Ho is the rare earth element
- Ho is lanthanide soft metal
- Ho is a basic oxide
24. Holmium state at room temperature
Holmium exists in a solid at room temperature because it exists in the double hexagonal close-packed lattice structure.
25. Is Holmium paramagnetic?
Paramagnetism is the tendency of magnetization in the direction of the magnetic field. Let us see whether Holmium is paramagnetic or not.
Holmium is paramagnetic because it has three unpaired electrons in its 4f and due to heavier elements, the magnetic moment not only depends on spin-only value but also there is some orbital contribution present.
Conclusion
Holmium is a lanthanide metal element having the highest magnetic permeability and highest magnetic saturation. Due to the presence of more f electrons, it can form large amounts of organometallic compounds.
Hi……I am Biswarup Chandra Dey, I have completed my Master’s in Chemistry from the Central University of Punjab. My area of specialization is Inorganic Chemistry. Chemistry is not all about reading line by line and memorizing, it is a concept to understand in an easy way and here I am sharing with you the concept about chemistry which I learn because knowledge is worth to share it.