Page 79 - The Periodic Table Book

41
Nb Niobium

Discovery: 1801
41 41 52 State: Solid
Forms Uses

This dark, dense The niobium case houses Transition Metals
ore has a light Columbite a battery that regulates the
metallic shine. beating of a human heart.

Pacemaker

Command Module from the Apollo 15 mission

This nozzle made
of a niobium alloy
This greyish pure metal is soft. kept its shape even
Columbite when very hot.
is named after
This pair of
the country of spectacles has
Columbia. thin, powerful
lenses made of a
Rods of pure niobium
niobium compound.
refined in a laboratory

Spectacle lenses

Niobium is so similar to the metal tantalum does not react adversely in the human body, it is
that the two were wrongly thought to be the used in implants, such as pacemakers. Niobium
same element for almost 40 years. The mineral also does not expand when hot, so it is used to
columbite is the main source of this shiny metal. make parts of rockets, such as the one on the
Niobium is not found naturally in its pure form. Command Module from NASA’s Apollo 15
When extracted, it has many uses. As the element spacecraft that went to the Moon in 1971. 77

076-077_Zirconium_Niobium.indd 77 12/12/16 5:38 pm