Vanadium, a silvery-white metallic element, occurs throughout Earth’s crust in extremely small quantities. Traces of vanadium also have been found in meteorites.
Vanadium is used chiefly by steel manufacturers, who combine it with iron in an alloy (metal mixture) called ferrovanadium. Vanadium improves steel’s hardness at high temperatures and its ability to withstand shock. It also makes alloy steel (steel that contains nickel, chromium, and molybdenum) resistant to corrosion. Manufacturers use alloy steel to make axles, gears, and springs for airplanes, automobiles, and locomotives. High-speed cutting tools also are made of alloy steel containing vanadium. Engineers use vanadium to make some parts for nuclear reactors because it resists attack by many chemicals but allows neutrons to penetrate readily.
Element, Chemical (table: Table of the elements)
Vanadium compounds have many uses. Vanadium pentoxide and vanadium oxytrichloride serve as catalysts (substances that speed up chemical reactions) in the production of synthetic materials and industrial chemicals. Vanadium pentoxide and many other vanadium compounds are used in dyes, glazes, and glass coloring.
Vanadium has the chemical symbol V. Its atomic number (number of protons in its nucleus) is 23. Its relative atomic mass is 50.9415. An element’s relative atomic mass equals its mass (amount of matter) divided by 1/12 of the mass of carbon 12, the most abundant form of carbon. Vanadium has a density of 6.1 grams per cubic centimeter at 20 °C. It melts at 1890 plus or minus 10 °C and boils at 3380 °C. Chemists classify vanadium as a transition metal . For information on the position of vanadium on the periodic table, see the article Periodic table .
Andres Manuel del Rio, a Mexican mineralogist, first recognized vanadium as a new element in 1801. But del Rio later thought it was impure chromium. Nils Sefstrom, a Swedish chemist, rediscovered it in 1830 and named it after Vanadis, the Scandinavian goddess of beauty.
Vanadium never occurs alone in nature. It is found combined with other elements in over 60 minerals. A major commercial source is titaniferous magnetite, found mainly in Finland, Russia, and South Africa.
Vanadium is considered an essential trace element in the human body. Some vanadium salts and complexes can mimic the effects of the hormone insulin, which regulates glucose levels in the blood.
