Yttrium participates in alloys and optical materials. Yttrium-aluminum garnet provides a material used in lasers, while other yttrium compounds have served as phosphors in displays. Its uses connect mechanical performance with materials whose carefully chosen composition controls how they interact with light.
FROM ELEMENT TO APPLICATION
AN ELEMENT IN CONTEXT
Why does Nd:YAG need a host and dopant?
Yttrium–aluminum garnet laser material
FOLLOW THIS RELATIONSHIP
Provide the crystal host
Yttrium–aluminum garnet supplies a multielement crystal framework, while incorporated neodymium provides active ions in the laser material rather than replacing the whole host.
Explore the model (optional)
YFORM → 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 yttrium's Nd:YAG role?
Atomic identity, reference properties and structure models
INTERACTIVE 3D39 visible sites
An electron censusDrag to rotate · scroll or pinch to zoom
[Kr] 4d1 5s2. 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.
A dark from Ytterby reached Gadolin, who announced evidence for a new earth in 1794. What initially appeared to be one substance later proved chemically more complex. Mosander's 1843 separation distinguished additional rare-earth constituents within material associated with yttria. Yttrium's history therefore illustrates how improving analytical methods can subdivide an earlier discovery without erasing the value of the work that first revealed it.
1794
New earth identified
Gadolin recognized an unfamiliar constituent in the Ytterby mineral.
1843
Further constituents separated
Mosander distinguished yttrium-, terbium-, and erbium-associated oxides within earlier material.
Yttrium accompanies rare-earth minerals and can be recovered from sources such as monazite and bastnäsite. It has also been identified in lunar samples. These occurrences place it among several chemically associated elements, so the path from mineral material to a useful yttrium product depends on separation and purification.
Yttrium is a silvery metal whose reaction with air depends partly on physical form: finely divided material behaves differently from a solid piece. It also enters compounds with useful magnetic, optical, and thermal properties. A yttrium-containing should therefore be understood through its complete composition and structure.
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
1799 K
at standard pressure unless noted
Boiling point in K
3609 K
101.325 kPa
Density in g/cm³
4.47 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
1.22 Pauling
Pauling scale
First ionization energy in kJ/mol
600 kJ/mol
gas-phase neutral atom, ground state
Covalent radius in pm
190 pm
single-bond covalent radius
Common oxidation states
+3
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
33 mg/kg
upper continental crust, mass fraction
Has stable isotopes
Yesderived
Discovery year in CE
1794 CEderived
WHERE IT SITS AMONG ITS NEIGHBORS
Electronegativity across period 5
Y 1.22 Pauling · Yttrium
Electronegativity across period 5. Exact values.
Rb
0.82
Sr
0.95
Y
1.22
Zr
1.33
Nb
1.6
Mo
2.16
Tc
1.9
Ru
2.2
Rh
2.28
Pd
2.2
Ag
1.93
Cd
1.69
In
1.78
Sn
1.96
Sb
2.05
Te
2.1
I
2.66
Xe
2.6
Electronegativity down group 3
Y 1.22 Pauling · Yttrium
Electronegativity down group 3. Exact values.
Sc
1.36
Y
1.22
La
1.1
Ac
1.1
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.
