Lutetium (Lu)
"The Final Lanthanide, the last and densest of the rare-earth heroes, used in cancer-fighting therapies."
A memorable persona to anchor Lu in your mind.
9.841
Grams per cm³
1663
Celsius (°C)
221
Radius (pm)
Daily Life Link
Lutetium is found in a detector in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) medical scanners.
Discovery & History
Year Discovered
1907
Discovered By
Georges Urbain & Carl Auer von Welsbach
Origin of Name
"The name derives from the Romans'' name for Paris, ''Lutetia''."
Technical Properties
Atomic Mass
174.967 u
Standard State
solid
Boiling Point
3402°C
Electron Configuration
[Xe] 4f145d16s2
1st Ionization Energy
5.426 eV
Electron Affinity
N/A
Oxidation States
"Lutetium is a silvery-white, hard, and dense metal."
Did You Know?
It is named after Lutetia, the ancient Roman name for the city of Paris.
Lutetium is the last element in the lanthanide series and is also the hardest and densest of the lanthanides.
The radioactive isotope lutetium-177 is used in targeted radionuclide therapy to treat certain types of cancers, such as neuroendocrine tumors.
It is one of the rarest and most expensive of the rare earth elements.