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VANADIUM
Links:
Introduction Classification Description Physical Properties
Electron Configuration and Bonding Thermochemistry Video
Isotopes Reactions Abundance Compounds
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Introduction

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Atomic Number: 23 Group: 5 or V B 23 50.9415
Average Atomic Mass: 50.9415 Period: 4

V
   

CAS Number:

 7440-62-2
      Vanadium
Classification

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Metal Nonmetal Metalloid    
Alkali Metal Alkali Earth Metal Transition Metal Chalcogen Halogen
Noble Gas Lanthanoid Actinoid

Rare Earth Metal

  
Transuranium No Stable Isotopes      
Solid Liquid Gas

Assumed Solid

  
Description

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Vanadium was first discovered by del Rio in 1801. Unfortunately, a French chemist incorrectly declared del Rio’s new element was only impure chromium; del Rio thought himself to be mistaken and accepted the French chemist’s statement. The element was rediscovered in 1830 by Sefstrom, who named the element in honor of the Scandinavian goddess Vanadis because of its beautiful multicolored compounds. It was isolated in nearly pure form by Roscoe, in 1867, who reduced the chloride with hydrogen. Vanadium of 99.3 to 99.8% purity was not produced until 1927. Vanadium is found in about 65 different minerals among which are carnotite, roscoelite, vanadinite, and patronite important sources of the metal. Vanadium is also found in phosphate rock and certain iron ores, and is present in some crude oils in the form of organic complexes. It is also found in small percentages in meteorites. Commercial production from petroleum ash holds promise as an important source of the element. High-purity ductile vanadium can be obtained by reduction of vanadium trichloride with magnesium or with magnesium-sodium mixtures. Much of the vanadium metal being produced is now made by calcium reduction of V2O5 in a pressure vessel, an adaption of a process developed by McKechnie and Seybolt. Natural vanadium is a mixture of two isotopes, 50V (0.25%) and 51V (99.75%). 50V is slightly radioactive, having a long half-life. Seventeen other unstable isotopes are recognized. Pure vanadium is a bright white metal, and is soft and ductile. It has good corrosion resistance to alkalis, sulfuric and hydrochloric acid, and salt water, but the metal oxidizes readily above 660°C. The metal has good structural strength and a low fission neutron cross section, making it useful in nuclear applications. Vanadium is used in producing rust resistant, spring, and highspeed tool steels. It is an important carbide stabilizer in making steels. About 80% of the vanadium now produced is used as ferrovanadium or as a steel additive. Vanadium foil is used as a bonding agent in cladding titanium to steel. Vanadium pentoxide is used in ceramics and as a catalyst. It is also used in producing a superconductive magnet with a field of 175,000 gauss. Vanadium and its compounds are toxic and should be handled with care. Ductile vanadium is commercially available. Commercial vanadium metal, of about 95% purity, costs about $50kg. Vanadium metal (99.7%) costs about $1.50/g or $700/kg. 1
Physical Properties

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Normal Melting Point: 1910 °C = 2183.15 K = 3470 °F 2 Normal Boiling Point: 3407 °C = 3680.15 K = 6164.6 °F 2
Sublimation Point: Triple Point:
Critical Point:
Density: 6.11 g/cm3 Crystal Structure: cubic: body centered
Atomic Radius: 1.92 Ǻ = 192 pm Covalent Radius: 1.22 Ǻ = 122 pm
Ionic Radius: 1 Ǻ = 100 pm Atomic Volume: 8.78 cm3/mol
Qualitative Solubility: s HF, H2SO4, HNO3 3
Note: Unless otherwise stated, solubility is for water at 25 degrees Celsius.
Electron Configuration and Bonding

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Predicted Electron Configuration: [Ar] 4s2 3d3

Lewis Dot Diagram
Actual Electron Configuration: [Ar] 4s2 3d3  

x

 
Block: d

V

x
Highest Occupied Energy Level: 4

Valence Electrons: 2  

 
Quantum Numbers: n = 3 ℓ = 2 mℓ = 0 ms = +½        
Please note that information in this section can be derived entirely from the periodic table.  Although most people do not discuss valence electrons of the d-block and f-block elements, on this page the number of electrons in the highest energy level of the actual electron configuration was used to determine valence electrons.
Electronegativity (Pauling): 1.63 Electropositivity (Pauling): 2.37
Electron Affinity: 0.53 eV = 51.14 kJ/mol = 12.22 kcal/mol Oxidation States: +5,2,3,4
Work Function:4 4.44 eV = 7.11288E-19 J  
Ionization Potential 5 eV kJ/mol Ionization Potential 5 eV kJ/mol
1 6.7462 650.9 13 336.277 32445.8
2 14.66 1414.5 14 896 86450.8
3 29.311 2828.1 15 976 94169.7
4 46.709 4506.7 16 1060 102274.4
5 65.2817 6298.7 17 1168 112694.8
6 128.13 12362.7 18 1260 121571.5
7 150.6 14530.7 19 1355 130737.6
8 173.4 16730.6 20 1486 143377.2
9 205.8 19856.7 21 1569.6 151443.3
10 230.5 22239.9 22 6851.3 661049.8
11 255.7 24671.3 23 7246.12 699144.1
12 308.1 29727.1
Note: Only the electronvolt values are given in the CRC Handbook, a conversion factor was used to find the kJ/mol value.
Thermochemistry

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Specific Heat: 0.49 J/g°C = 0.117 cal/g°C Thermal Conductivity: 30.7 (W/m)/K, 27ºC
Heat of Fusion: 20.9 kJ/mol = 410.3 J/g Heat of Vaporization: 0.452 kJ/mol = 8.9 J/g
State of Matter Enthalpy of Formation Entropy of Formation Gibbs Free Energy
(kcal/mol) (kJ/mol) (cal/K) (J/K) (kcal/mol) (kJ/mol)
(s) 0 0 6.91 28.91144 0 0
(g) 122.90 514.2136 43.544 182.188096 108.32 453.21088
Video

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Video on vanadium from the University of Nottingham's periodicvideos.com
Isotopes

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Nuclide Mass Half-Life Nuclear Spin Binding Energy (kJ/mol)
40V 40.01109(54)# 2-# 27697959237.4166
41V 40.99978(22)# 7/2-# 29555945029.109
42V 41.99123(21)# <55 ns 2-# 31054405871.9935
43V 42.98065(25)# 80# ms 7/2-# 32822510426.4845
44V 43.97411(13) 111(7) ms (2+) 34141208794.9651
45V 44.965776(18) 547(6) ms 7/2- 35729550875.051
46V 45.9602005(11) 422.50(11) ms 0+ 36958368006.3284
47V 46.9549089(9) 32.6(3) min 3/2- 38277066374.8089
48V 47.9522537(27) 15.9735(25) d 4+ 39236239794.4805
49V 48.9485161(12) 329(3) d 7/2- 40375175688.5559
50V 49.9471585(11) 1.4(4)×1017 a 6+ 41244467871.0248
51V 50.9439595(11) STABLE 7/2- 42383403765.1009
52V 51.9447755(11) 3.743(5) min 3+ 43072933473.1659
53V 52.944338(3) 1.60(4) min 7/2- 43852344418.4329
54V 53.946440(16) 49.8(5) s 3+ 44451992889.2966
55V 54.94723(11) 6.54(15) s (7/2-)# 45141522597.361
56V 55.95053(22) 216(4) ms (1+) 45651289831.0215
57V 56.95256(25) 0.35(1) s (3/2-) 46250938301.8852
58V 57.95683(27) 191(8) ms 3+# 46670824298.3431
59V 58.96021(33) 75(7) ms 7/2-# 47090710294.8023
60V 59.96503(51) 122(18) ms 3+# 47420715054.0588
61V 60.96848(43)# 47.0(12) ms 7/2-# 47930482287.7193
62V 61.97378(54)# 33.5(20) ms 3+# 48260487046.9759
63V 62.97755(64)# 17(3) ms (7/2-)# 48680373043.4357
64V 63.98347(75)# 10# ms [>300 ns] 48920496565.4903
65V 64.98792(86)# 10# ms 5/2-# 49340382561.9488
Values marked # are not purely derived from experimental data, but at least partly from systematic trends. Spins with weak assignment arguments are enclosed in parentheses. 6
Reactions

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Abundance

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Earth: Source Compounds: oxides 7
Earth: Ocean Water: 0.0025 mg/L 8
Earth: Crust: 120 mg/kg = 0.012% 8
Earth: Lithosphere: 0.014% 9
Earth: Total: 82 ppm 10
Mercury: Total: 63 ppm 10
Venus: Total: 86 ppm 10
Compounds

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vanadium oxytrichloride vanadium(III) chloride vanadium(IV) iodide
vanadium telluride vanadium(III) fluoride vanadium(IV) oxide
vanadium tetrachloride vanadium(III) iodide vanadium(IV) selenide
vanadium(I) hydride vanadium(III) nitride vanadium(IV) silicide
vanadium(II) bromide vanadium(III) oxide vanadium(IV) sulfide
vanadium(II) chloride vanadium(III) sulfate vanadium(IV) telluride
vanadium(II) fluoride vanadium(III) sulfide vanadium(V) fluoride
vanadium(II) iodide vanadium(IV) bromide vanadium(V) oxide
vanadium(II) oxide vanadium(IV) carbide vanadium(V) oxytrichloride
vanadium(II) silicide vanadium(IV) chloride vanadium(V) oxytrifluoride
vanadium(III) bromide vanadium(IV) fluoride
Safety

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Note: Not every link below has an entry for every element on the periodic table.  Sites were selected based on those that had a large number of element and compound entries.
Scorecard's Pollution Information − not an MSDS, but it does provide basic information (among other things) on human heath hazards and industrial uses.
Although not truly an MSDS, Oxford University's Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory does provide some basic information.
Iowa State University
ESPI Metals
Languages

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Afrikaans: Vanadium Albanian: Vanad Armenian: Վանադիում Arabic: فانديوم
Aromanian: Vanadiumu Basque: Banadioa Bosnian: Vanadij Breton: Vanadiom
Bulgarian: Ванадий Byelorussian: Ванадый Catalan: Vanadi Chinese: 钒
Cornish: Vanadyum Croatian: Vanadij Czech: Vanad Danish: Vanadium
Dutch: Vanadium Esperanto: Vanadio Estonian: Vanaadium Faroese: Vanadium
Finnish: Vanadiini French: Vanadium Friulian: Vanadi Frisian: Vanadium
Galician: Vanadio Georgian: ვანდიუმი German: Vanadium Greek: Βαναdιο
Hebrew: ונדיום Hungarian: Vanádium Icelandic: Vanadín Irish Gaelic: Vanaidiam
Italian: Vanadio Japanese: バナジウム Kashubian: Wônôd Kazakh: Ванадий
Korean: 바나듐 Latvian: Vanadijs Lithuanian: Vanadis Luxembourgish: Vanadium
Macedonian: Ванадиум Malay: Vanadium Maltese: Vanadjum Manx Gaelic: Vanaadjum
Mokshan: Ванади Mongolian: Ванади Norwegian: Vanadium Occitan: Vanadi
Ossetian: Ванадий Polish: Wanad Portuguese: Vanádio Russian: Ванадий
Scottish Gaelic: Vanaidiam Serbian: Ванадиjум Slovak: Vanád Spanish: Vanadio
Sudovian: Unadijan Swahili: Vanadi Swedish: Vanadin Tajik: Vanadi'
Thai: วาเนเดียม Turkish: Vanadyum Ukranian: Ванадій Uzbek: Ванадий
Vietnamese: Vanadi Welsh: Vanadiwm        
For More Information

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From Online Periodic Tables:
About.com American Elements
Chemical & Engineering News Chemical Elements
ChemGlobe Chemicool
Environmental Chemistry Eni Generalic
HyperPhysics from Georgia State University's Department of Physics and Astronomy InfoPlease
Lenntech Los Alamos National Laboratory
Physics Department of the University of Coimbra Qivx Inc.
Royal Society of Chemistry's Visual Elements Schenectady County Community College
Thomas Jefferson Lab National Accelerator Facility WebElements
Wikipedia X-ray properties: Carlo Segre from Illinois Institute of Technology
Sources

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(1) - Lide, David R. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 83rd ed.; CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL, 2002; p 4-34.
(2) - Lide, David R. CRC Handbook; CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL, 2002; p 4-132.
(3) - Dean, John A. Lange's Handbook of Chemistry, 11th ed.; McGraw-Hill Book Company: New York, NY, 1973; p 4-8 - 4-149.
(4) - Speight, James. Lange's Handbook of Chemistry, 16th ed.; McGraw-Hill Professional: Boston, MA, 2004; p 1-132.
(5) - Lide, David R. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 83rd ed.; CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL, 2002; p 10-178 - 10-180.
(6) - Atomic Mass Data Center. http://amdc.in2p3.fr/web/nubase_en.html (accessed July 14, 2009).
(7) - Silberberg, Martin S. Chemistry: The Molecular Nature of Matter and Change, 4th ed.; McGraw-Hill Higher Education: Boston, MA, 2006, p 965.
(8) - Lide, David R. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 83rd ed.; CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL, 2002; p 14-17.
(9) - Silberberg, Martin S. Chemistry: The Molecular Nature of Matter and Change, 4th ed.; McGraw-Hill Higher Education: Boston, MA, 2006, p 962.
(10) - Silberberg, Martin S. Chemistry: The Molecular Nature of Matter and Change, 4th ed.; McGraw-Hill Higher Education: Boston, MA, 2006, p 964.

VANADIUM

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Last update: Thursday, August 12, 2010