Europium
A phosphor element giving displays their red and blue glow.
Inside the Europium atom
Switch between Bohr and Quantum Cloud modes to compare a simple teaching model with a more realistic probability-based view, and follow the guided tour to explore the Europium atom step by step.
Electron configuration
[Xe] 4f7 6s2
A neutral Europium atom has 63 electrons (equal to its proton count). Choosing a different isotope above changes only the neutron count.
Shell distribution
Electrons fill inner shells before outer ones; the outermost (valence) shell drives the element's chemistry.
Physical & atomic properties
- State (room temp)
- Solid
- Melting point
- 1099 K (826 °C)
- Boiling point
- 1802 K (1529 °C)
- Density
- 5.243 g/cm³
- Electronegativity
- 1.2 Pauling
- Atomic radius
- 185 pm
- 1st ionization energy
- 547 kJ/mol
- Category
- Lanthanides
Discovery & naming
- Discovered
- 1901
- Discovered by
- Eugène-Anatole Demarçay
- Origin of name
- The continent of Europe.
Notable uses
Red phosphors in screens and anti-counterfeiting marks.
Where Europium comes from
Neutron star mergers
Astronomers treat europium as the fingerprint of the r-process when reading the chemistry of old stars.
Simplified origin map — many elements form through more than one astrophysical pathway.
Summary
- Atomic number
- 63
- Atomic mass
- 151.96
- Category
- Lanthanides
- Group · Period
- — · 6
- Block
- f-block
- Shells
- 2 · 8 · 18 · 25 · 8 · 2