Holmium (67)

Holmium is relatively soft and malleable, and is stable in dry air at room temperature. It oxidizes rapidly in moist air and at elevated temperatures. The metal has unusual magnetic properties. The metal is a rare earth metal found in monazite, gadolinite and other minerals.

•Name: Holmium
•Symbol: Ho
•Atomic number: 67
•Atomic weight: 164.93032 (2) 
•Standard state: solid at 298 K
•CAS Registry ID: 7440-60-0
•Group in periodic table: 
•Group name: Lanthanoid
•Period in periodic table: 6 (lanthanoid)
•Block in periodic table: f-block
•Color: silvery white
•Classification: Metallic

Historical information
Holmium was discovered by J. L. Soret and Delafontaine at 1878 in Switzerland. Origin of name: from the Greek word "Holmia" meaning "Sweden". Per Theodor Cleve of Sweden discovered holmium while working on erbia earth (erbium oxide). Holmium oxide (holmia) was present as an impurity in the erbia. The element is named after Cleve's native city. Pure holmia, the yellow oxide, was prepared by Homberg in 1911.

Physical properties 
•Melting point: 1734 [or 1461 °C (2662 °F)] K
•Boiling point: 2993 [or 2720 °C (4928 °F)] K
•Density of solid: 8795 kg m-3

Orbital properties
•Ground state electron configuration: [Xe].4f11.6s2
•Shell structure: 2.8.18.29.8.2
•Term symbol: 4I15/2

Isolation
Holmium metal is available commercially so it is not normally necessary to make it in the laboratory, which is just as well as it is difficult to isolate as the pure metal. This is largely because of the way it is found in nature. The lanthanoids are found in nature in a number of minerals. The most important are xenotime, monazite, and bastnaesite. The first two are orthophosphate minerals LnPO4 (Ln deonotes a mixture of all the lanthanoids except promethium which is vanishingly rare) and the third is a fluoride carbonate LnCO3F. Lanthanoids with even atomic numbers are more common. The most comon lanthanoids in these minerals are, in order, cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, and praseodymium. Monazite also contains thorium and ytrrium which makes handling difficult since thorium and its decomposition products are radioactive.

For many purposes it is not particularly necessary to separate the metals, but if separation into individual metals is required, the process is complex. Initially, the metals are extracted as salts from the ores by extraction with sulphuric acid (H2SO4), hydrochloric acid (HCl), and sodium hydroxide (NaOH). Modern purification techniques for these lanthanoid salt mixtures are ingenious and involve selective complexation techniques, solvent extractions, and ion exchange chromatography. 

Pure holmium is available through the reduction of HoF3 with calcium metal.

2HoF3 + 3Ca → 2Ho + 3CaF2

This would work for the other calcium halides as well but the product CaF2 is easier to handle under the reaction conditions (heat to 50°C above the melting point of the element in an argon atmosphere). Excess calcium is removed from the reaction mixture under vacuum.