The mineralogy of Hafnium
| General Properties | |
|---|---|
| Symbol: | Hf |
| Atomic Number: | 72 |
| Standard atomic weight (Ar): | 178.49(2) |
| Electron configuration: | [Xe] 4f14 5d2 6s2 |
| Photos | ||
|---|---|---|
      | ||
| < | Melted tip of a hafnium consumable electrode | > |
| Atomic Properties | |
|---|---|
| Electronegativity (Pauling scale): | 1.3 |
| Atomic Radius: | 208 pm |
| Ionic Radius: | 71 pm (+4) |
| 1st Ionization energy: | 659 kJ/mol |
| Oxidation States: | 2,3,4 |
| Physical Properties | |
|---|---|
| Standard State: | solid |
| Bonding Type: | metallic |
| Melting Point: | 2506 K |
| Boiling Point: | 4876 K |
| Density: | 13.31 g/cm3 |
| Metal/Non-Metal: | transition metal |
| Main isotopes of Hafnium | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isotope | % in Nature | Half Life | Decay type | Decay product |
| 172Hf | synthetic | 1.87y | ε | 172Lu |
| 174Hf | 0.162% | 2×1015y | α | 170Yb |
| 176Hf | 5.206% | - | α ? | 172Yb |
| 177Hf | 18.606% | - | α ? | 173Yb |
| 178Hf | 27.297% | - | α ? | 174Yb |
| 178m2Hf | synthetic | 31y | Isomeric transition | 178Hf |
| 179Hf | 13.629% | - | α ? | 175Yb |
| 180Hf | 35.1% | - | α ? | 176Yb |
| 182Hf | trace | 8.9×106y | β− | 182Ta |
| Main ions of Hafnium | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Ion | Example minerals | ||
| hafnium | Hf4+ | |||
| Other Information | |
|---|---|
| Year Discovered: | 1922 |
| Discovered By: |  Dirk Coster  György von Hevesy Dirk Coster and George de Hevesy |
| Year Predicted: | 1869 |
| Year Isolated: | 1922 |
| Isolated By: | Dirk Coster and George de Hevesy |
| Named For: |  after Hafnia. Latin for: Copenhagen, where it was discovered |
| CPK color coding: | #4DC2FF |
| External Links: | WikipediaWebElementsLos Alamos National LaboratoryTheodore Gray's PeriodicTable.com |
| Simple Compounds | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nitrides | hafnium nitride | HfN | +3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sulfides | hafnium disulphide | HfS2 | +4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Selenides | hafnium diselenide | HfSe2 | +4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hydrides | hafnium dihydride | HfH2 | +2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fluorides | hafnium tetrafluoride | HfF4 | +4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chlorides | hafnium tetrachloride | HfCl4 | +4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Iodides | hafnium triodide | HfI3 | +3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| hafnium tetraiodide | HfI4 | +4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oxides | hafnium dioxide | HfO2 | +4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mineral Diversity of Hafnium | |
|---|---|
| 9. Silicates | 1 valid mineral species |
| Total: | 1 valid species containing essential Hafnium |
| Geochemistry of Hafnium | |
|---|---|
| Goldschmidt classification: | Lithophile |
| Hf4+ is commonly concentrated in residual soils and sediments. | |
| Elemental Abundance for Hafnium | ||
|---|---|---|
| Crust (CRC Handbook) | 3.0 x 10-6 | mass fraction, kg/kg |
| Crust (Kaye & Laby) | 4 x 10-6 | mass fraction, kg/kg |
| Crust (Greenwood) | 2.8 x 10-6 | mass fraction, kg/kg |
| Crust (Ahrens/Taylor) | 3.000 x 10-6 | mass fraction, kg/kg |
| Crust (Ahrens/Wänke) | 3.460 x 10-6 | mass fraction, kg/kg |
| Crust (Ahrens/Weaver) | 4.700 x 10-6 | mass fraction, kg/kg |
| Upper Crust (Ahrens/Taylor) | 5.800 x 10-6 | mass fraction, kg/kg |
| Upper Crust (Ahrens/Shaw) | 5.800 x 10-6 | mass fraction, kg/kg |
| Sea Water (CRC Handbook) | 7 x 10-12 | mass per volume fraction, kg/L |
| Sea Water (Kaye & Laby) | < 8 x 10-12 | mass per volume fraction, kg/L |
| The Sun (Kaye & Laby) | 2.1 x 10-7 | atom mole fraction relative to Si=1 |
| Solar System (Kaye & Laby) | 1.5 x 10-7 | atom mole fraction relative to Si=1 |
| Solar System (Ahrens) | 1.54 x 10-7 (1.9%) | atom mole fraction relative to Si=1 (% uncertainty) |
| Element association of Hafnium in the Mineral World | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| This table compares the known valid mineral species listed listed with Hafnium and the other elements listed based on the official IMA formula. Note that unlike other sections on this page this includes non-essential elements. The first data column contains the total number of minerals listed with Hafnium and the element listed for that row. The second data column lists this number as a percentage of all minerals listed with Hafnium. The final data column compares this percentage against the percentage of all minerals that contain the element listed in each row. Click on a heading to sort. |
| Element | Valid Minerals listed with element and Hafnium | % of Hf minerals | Relative to % in all minerals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oxygen | 1 mineral with Hf and O | 100.00% | 23.12% higher |
| Silicon | 1 mineral with Hf and Si | 100.00% | 260.67% higher |
| Periodic Table | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Lutetium << Hafnium >> Tantalum | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Most widespread minerals containing Hafnium | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| This list of minerals containing Hafnium is built from the mindat.org locality database. This is based on the number of localities entered for mineral species and is therefore slanted towards minerals interesting to collectors with less coverage of common rock-forming-minerals so it does not give an undistorted distribution of Hafnium mineral species. It is more useful when comparing rare species rather than common species. |
| Name | Formula | Crystal System | Mindat Localities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hafnon | HfSiO4 | Tetragonal | 11 |
| Photos |
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Spotted a mistake/omission? - These pages are a work in progress, so please send all comments/corrections to jolyon@mindat.org. Thank you.
Constants and physical property data from:
David R. Lide (ed.), CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 85th Edition. CRC Press. Boca Raton, Florida (2005).
Kaye and Laby Tables of Physical & Chemical Constants (2005). Section 3.1.3, Abundances of the elements
A. Earnshaw, N. Greenwood, Chemistry of the Elements, 2nd edition, Butterworth-Heinemann, (1997)
Thomas J. Ahrens (ed.), Global Earth Physics : A Handbook of Physical Constants, American Geophysical Union (1995)
L.B. Railsback, An Earth Scientist's Periodic Table of the Elements and Their Ions : Geology 31:9 p737-740 (2003)
Emsley, J. Nature's Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements. New York: Oxford University Press (2001)
