Lanthanum oxide is useful for special optical glasses, such as camera and telescope lenses and infrared-absorbing glass.
Lanthanum, however, has no electrons in its 4f subshell, and it best fits with the elements of group three, corresponding to a group of transition metals.
Naturally occurring lanthanum consists of one stable isotope (139La) and one radioactive (138La) isotope, with the stable isotope, 139La, being the most abundant (99.91 percent natural abundance).
In animals, the injection of lanthanum solutions produces glycemia, low blood pressure, degeneration of the spleen and hepatic alterations.
The proportion of the human brain that is devoted to the neocortex—especially to the prefrontal cortex—is larger than in all other mammals.
Lanthanum, its alloys, and its compounds have a wide range of applications.
The principal ores containing lanthanum are monazite ((Ce, La, Th, Nd, Y)PO4) and bastnasite ((Ce, La, Y)CO3F).
Lanthanum was discovered in 1839 by Swedish chemist Carl Gustav Mosander, when he partially decomposed a sample of cerium nitrate by heating and treating the resultant salt with dilute nitric acid.
The word lanthanum comes from the Greek ??????? , which means "to lie hidden."
Cold water attacks lanthanum slowly, while hot water attacks it much more rapidly.
Lanthanum (chemical symbol La, atomic number 57) is a soft, silvery white metallic element.
The isotopes of lanthanum range in atomic weight from 117 u (117La) to 155 u (155La).