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Neodymium (Nd)

Neodymium is the 60th element, a lanthanide in the f-block. Its standard atomic weight is 144.24.

Period 6f-blockLanthanide
60Nd

Neodymium

144.24

What the table records

Atomic number
60
Standard atomic weight
144.24
Group
Not assigned — see below
Period
6
Block
f-block
Category
Lanthanide
Electron configuration
[Xe] 4f4 6s2
Valence electrons
4
Typical valence
Variable — no single default
Van der Waals radius
2.45 Å
Covalent radius
2.01 Å

The configuration above is the aufbau order. Elements in the f-block are given no group number here, because which of lanthanum and lutetium belongs in group 3 is unsettled.

Molecules containing neodymium

The lightest named structures in this library that contain Nd.

How to read these numbers

The standard atomic weight is an average over the isotopes as they occur naturally, which is why it is rarely a whole number. It is the figure a molar mass calculation uses. Work in mass spectrometry wants the monoisotopic mass of a single isotope instead, which is a different number.

The two radii are not the same measurement. The covalent radius is half the distance between two bonded atoms of the element; the van der Waals radius is how close a non-bonded atom gets before repulsion takes over, and is always the larger. Space-filling models are drawn with the second, ball-and-stick models with the first — which is why the same molecule looks so different in the two.