lanthanide
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Noun
Wikipedia lanthanide (plural lanthanides)
- (chemistry) Any of the 14 rare earth elements from cerium (or from lanthanum) to lutetium in the periodic table; because their outermost orbitals are empty, they have very similar chemistry; below them are the actinides.
[edit] Usage notes
- According to IUPAC - "Although lanthanoid means 'like lanthanum' and so should not include lanthanum, lanthanum has become included by common usage. Similarly, actinoid. The ending 'ide' normally indicates a negative ion, and therefore lanthanoid and actinoid are preferred to lanthanide and actinide. However, lanthanide and actinide are still allowed owing to wide current use."
[edit] Synonyms
- lanthanate (obsolete)
- lanthanoid (including lanthanum)
- lanthanon (proposed to avoid confusion with the usual meaning in chemistry of -ide)
- rare-earth element
