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Specialty Chemistry Forums => Citizen Chemist => Topic started by: GammaBettaFluxx3000 on January 25, 2020, 04:38:16 PM

Title: Will Cerium (Element #58) corrode completely if kept in open air?
Post by: GammaBettaFluxx3000 on January 25, 2020, 04:38:16 PM
I recently acquired a sample of Cerium for my element collection.
It came in a plastic bag under kerosene.

I removed it from the package and washed it to remove the oil/kerosene.
The sample is now sitting in my desk in open air.

-- Can I keep it that way? Or Will it just oxidize further and further until it crumbles apart in a few months/years?
Title: Re: Will Cerium (Element #58) corrode completely if kept in open air?
Post by: AWK on January 25, 2020, 04:53:16 PM
https://www.webelements.com/cerium/chemistry.html
Title: Re: Will Cerium (Element #58) corrode completely if kept in open air?
Post by: GammaBettaFluxx3000 on January 25, 2020, 05:01:52 PM
https://www.webelements.com/cerium/chemistry.html

Well, thanks, the link you provided only says Ce will tarnish when exposed to air. But that's all.
So my sample should be fine as long as I don't remove the layer of oxide that formed over it, right?
Title: Re: Will Cerium (Element #58) corrode completely if kept in open air?
Post by: chenbeier on January 25, 2020, 05:04:38 PM
If possible put it in a glass tube unter nitrogen or argon.
Title: Re: Will Cerium (Element #58) corrode completely if kept in open air?
Post by: GammaBettaFluxx3000 on January 25, 2020, 05:07:53 PM
If possible put it in a glass tube unter nitrogen or argon.
Unfortunately I don't have access to any of those :/

But thanks anyway.
Title: Re: Will Cerium (Element #58) corrode completely if kept in open air?
Post by: Enthalpy on January 28, 2020, 10:25:57 AM
Wiki: "Cerium metal is highly pyrophoric, meaning that when it is ground or scratched, the resulting shavings catch fire."

Liquid paraffin wasn't a bad idea.