Uses
Neodymium is used for many different thing, a few of these things are… Neodymium is used for coloring glass to make welders goggles.  It is used delicate glass shades shades ranging from pure violet through wine-red and warm gray. Light transmitted through such glass shows unusually sharp absorption bands. The glass is used in astronomical work to produce sharp bands by which spectral lines may be calibrated. Glass containing neodymium is a laser material in place of ruby to produce coherent light.  Neodymium also is used to make lase5rs, in astronomy to calibrate spectral lines and it is used in very powerful permanent magnets - Nd2Fe14B. Neodymium is also used to make speakers. By itself, neodymium colors glass delicate shades ranging from pure violet through wine-red and warm gray.

History

Neodymium was discovered in 1885 by an astvian amateur mineralogist named Baron Carl Auer Von Welsbach.  He separated Didymium into two elements.  These two elements were Neodymium and Praseodymium.  Neodymium was named from two Greek words, Neo means “new” and didymos means “twin” meaning new twin.

Facts

• The magnets that Neodymium makes are so powerful they cling together with such force they are almost impossible to separate.
• It can be prepared by electrolysis of its nuclide salts or by the alkaline earth metals in the presence of heat.
• The metal is present in misch metal, an alloy with many uses, and in the important ND-YAG laser.

Properties

The metal has a bright silvery metallic luster, Neodymium is one of the more reactive rare-earth metals and quickly tarnishes in air, forming an oxide that spalls off and exposes metal to oxidation. The metal, therefore, should be kept under light mineral oil or sealed in a plastic material. Neodymium exists in two allotropic forms, with a transformation from a double hexagonal to a body-centered cubic structure taking place at 863oC.