Facts about Samarium

Samarium can also be obtained by reducing its oxide with lanthanum.

The metal is often prepared by electrolysis of a molten mixture of samarium(III) chloride with sodium chloride or calcium chloride (Greenwood and Earnshaw 1998).

Samarium is never found free in nature, but, like other rare earth elements, it is contained in many minerals, including monazite, bastnasite and samarskite.

Naturally occurring samarium is composed of four stable isotopes, 144Sm, 150Sm, 152Sm and 154Sm, and three radioisotopes, 147Sm, 148Sm and 149Sm, with 152Sm being the most abundant (26.75 percent natural abundance).

Samarium (chemical symbol Sm, atomic number 62) is a bright silvery metal that is a member of the lanthanide series of chemical elements.

Samarium is an inner transition metal (or lanthanide) that lies in period six of the periodic table, between promethium and europium.