EUROPIUM!! Please Help With Just 2 Chemistry Questions?! ?

Question

Where is the element Europium found? I know it is a rare earth metal but how common is it on Earth? PLEASE no answers telling me to "google it" because don't you think I'd have tried that?! I'm having trouble with this questions...please help me! :)

Answer 1

I just read the Europium article in Wikipedia and it should answer most of your questions.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europium  

Answer 2

It occurs along with other Lanthanides in the mineral monazite, and is extremely difficult to isolate in a pure form.

Its occurrence in the Earth's Crust is estimated at about 2000 parts per billion.

Answer 3

It doesnt occur as a free element in earth.  

Answer 4

Ok, Emily.  Relax.  I know trying to find stuff can be frustrating.  It's all about searching for clues and links.  At least that is the wonderful thing about the web.  It's easy to follow up on what you find.  Take the following for example.  All the information we found started with a look at the Wikipedia article.

Quotes from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europium

"Europium is never found in nature as a free element; however, there are many minerals containing europium, with the most important sources being bastnäsite and monazite."

"Luckily, Molycorp, with its bastnäsite deposit at Mountain Pass, California, whose lanthanides had an unusually "rich" europium content of 0.1% ..."

So it would appear that one source of europium is Mountain Pass, California.

http://www.wunderground.com/US/CA/Mounta...

Mountain Pass

The largest known rare earth deposits in the world exist near Mountain Pass Summit. Today, the Molybdenum Corporation of America is processing the highly concentrated rare earth ore, the only remaining productive mining activity in the area.

http://www.schweich.com/usi15A.html

Complete with a photograph of the mine:

http://www.schweich.com/imagehtml/IMGP11...

More at

http://geology.csupomona.edu/drjessey/fi...

Also from Wikipedia:

"Californian bastnäsite now faces stiff competition from Bayan Obo, China, with an even "richer" europium content of 0.2%."

Apparently it comes from China, too.  (Like everything else.)

Also found in England, according to Wikipedia:

"Divalent europium in small amounts happens to be the activator of the bright blue fluorescence of some samples of the mineral fluorite (calcium difluoride). The most outstanding examples of this originated around Weardale, and adjacent parts of northern England,..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weardale

Learning how to do research is a valuable skill.  But it takes practice.  The more you do, the better you will get.

Answer 5

Well, I tried searching for you.

Europium is not found as a free element, it cannot be found purely in bulk masses anywhere in the world. Some elements, such as bastnäsite and monazite, however, have been found to contain traces of Europium.

Hope it helps:)