Cerium is the most abundant lanthanide and a major ingredient of mischmetal, the alloy used in lighter flints. Its compounds also participate in catalysts and pigments. Cerium illustrates why the name rare earth does not mean every member is exceptionally scarce in Earth's crust.
FROM ELEMENT TO APPLICATION
AN ELEMENT IN CONTEXT
How does a ferrocerium alloy turn mechanical action into an ignition spark?
Cerium-containing ferrocerium alloy
FOLLOW THIS RELATIONSHIP
Use a spark-producing alloy
Ferrocerium combines cerium with other constituents in a material used for lighter flints. Its working behavior belongs to the alloy rather than a polishing oxide.
Explore the model (optional)
CeFORM → INTERACTION → CONSEQUENCE
Follow the explanation in either direction. These are authored steps, not a physical clock.
Optional: check your understanding
USE THE EXPLANATION
What is the useful immediate output of mechanical action on ferrocerium?
Atomic identity, reference properties and structure models
INTERACTIVE 3D58 visible sites
An electron censusDrag to rotate · scroll or pinch to zoom
[Xe] 4f1 5d1 6s2. Grouping electrons by principal shell connects the neutral-atom configuration to periodic-table patterns.
What this representation means
A three-dimensional counting diagram. Dots are count markers, not measured electron positions; spherical placement and spacing are arbitrary. There are no electron trajectories here. Orbitals describe quantum states.
Jöns Jacob Berzelius and Wilhelm Hisinger identified cerium in material in 1803, while Martin Heinrich Klaproth reached the finding independently around the same period. Obtaining pure metal was a later achievement: William Hillebrand and Thomas Norton prepared it in 1875. That gap illustrates an important distinction in chemical history: identifying an element within a compound does not require already possessing a pure metallic specimen.
1803
Element identified
Berzelius and Hisinger, and independently Klaproth, identified cerium.
1875
Metal prepared
Hillebrand and Norton obtained cerium metal electrochemically.
Cerium occurs in rare-earth minerals such as monazite and bastnaesite, as well as cerium-bearing minerals including cerite. It is chemically bound and often mixed with related elements. Separating a cerium product from those companions is part of making an industrial , ingredient, or research specimen.
Cerium can participate in chemistry involving both trivalent and tetravalent states. Ceria-based materials exploit related changes in oxygen content under different conditions. This connects to material function without implying that an isolated atom carries an unchanging charge in every setting or that metal and oxide behave alike.
Each section links its supporting references. Descriptions and diagrams were authored for this atlas. Source checks completed. Source checks dated 2026-09-06.
CITE THIS PAGE
Family labels and the group-3 layout are teaching conventions. A table position does not establish an unknown bulk property. Electronic configurations refer to neutral atoms; ions and material environments require their own account.
Read each reference property together with its units, conditions and the reference information below.
Not yet recorded: electron affinity, second ionization energy, ground-state term symbol, van der waals radius, thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, electrical resistivity, crystal structure, lattice parameter a, space group, abundance in seawater, abundance in the universe, annual production, supply-risk listing, hazard classification, biological role, cas registry number, pubchem cid, wikidata item. These families are declared and awaiting an ingestion run against the source each names; they are listed here rather than shown as empty rows.
Physical
Intended reference: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics · CRC Press
Phase at 20 °C
solid
293.15 K, 101.325 kPa
Melting point in K
1068 K
at standard pressure unless noted
Boiling point in K
3716 K
101.325 kPa
Density in g/cm³
6.77 g/cm³
solids and liquids at 293 K; gases at 273 K and 101.325 kPa
Atomic and electronic
Intended reference: Pauling electronegativity scale · Widely tabulated; original in The Nature of the Chemical Bond
Electronegativity in Pauling
1.12 Pauling
Pauling scale
First ionization energy in kJ/mol
534.4 kJ/mol
gas-phase neutral atom, ground state
Covalent radius in pm
204 pm
single-bond covalent radius
Common oxidation states
+3, +4
states met in ordinary compounds; not exhaustive
Occurrence and identity
Intended reference: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics · CRC Press
Abundance in the crust in mg/kg
66.5 mg/kg
upper continental crust, mass fraction
Has stable isotopes
Yesderived
Discovery year in CE
1803 CEderived
WHERE IT SITS AMONG ITS NEIGHBORS
Electronegativity across period 6
Ce 1.12 Pauling · Cerium
Electronegativity across period 6. Exact values.
Cs
0.79
Ba
0.89
La
1.1
Ce
1.12
Pr
1.13
Nd
1.14
Sm
1.17
Eu
1.2
Gd
1.2
Tb
1.1
Dy
1.22
Ho
1.23
Er
1.24
Tm
1.25
Yb
1.1
Lu
1.27
Hf
1.3
Ta
1.5
W
2.36
Re
1.9
Os
2.2
Ir
2.2
Pt
2.28
Au
2.54
Hg
2
Tl
1.62
Pb
2.33
Bi
2.02
Po
2
At
2.2
The trend uses the same reference-property values as the periodic table. Elements with no recorded value are left out of the line rather than drawn at zero.
