Periodic Table/Scandium
← CaTi →
21Sc44.9559 Da

Scandium

Transition Metal·Period 4, Group 3·s-block

Rare soft silvery metallic element belonging to group 3 of the periodic table. There are ten isotopes, nine of which are radioactive and have short half-lives. Predicted in 1869 by Mendeleev, isolated by Nilson in 1879.

Gallery

Crystal of Scandium. About 1g

JanDerChemiker, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Bohr model of Scandium

Physical Propertiesmass · density · phase · crystal

Atomic Mass

44.9559Da

Density

2.9900g/cm³

Phase (STP)

Solid

Melting Point

1814.2K

Boiling Point

3109.2K

Molar Heat

0.5680J/(mol·K)

Crystal Structure

HEX

Lattice Constant

3.310Å

Atomic Radiiatomic · covalent · van der Waals

Atomic (Empirical)

160.00pm

Covalent

148.00pm

Van der Waals

215.00pm

Electronic Propertieselectronegativity · ionization · affinity

Electron Configuration

[Ar] 3d 4s2

Electron Shells

2, 8, 9, 2

Electronegativity

1.36Pauling

Electron Affinity

0.2kJ/mol

1st Ionization Energy

6.6kJ/mol

Oxidation States

+1, +2, +3

Orbital DiagramAufbau · Hund's rule · Pauli exclusion

↑↓
1s2
↑↓
2s2
↑↓
↑↓
↑↓
2p6
↑↓
3s2
↑↓
↑↓
↑↓
3p6
↑
3d1
↑↓
4s2

Full: 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d1 4s2Short: [Ar] 3d 4s2

Ionization Energies (21 known)

1st6.6 kJ/mol2nd12.8 kJ/mol3rd24.8 kJ/mol4th73.5 kJ/mol5th92.0 kJ/mol6th110.7 kJ/mol7th138.0 kJ/mol8th158.1 kJ/mol9th180.0 kJ/mol10th225.2 kJ/mol11th249.8 kJ/mol12th687.4 kJ/mol13th757.7 kJ/mol14th833.2 kJ/mol15th926.5 kJ/mol16th1008.6 kJ/mol17th1093.5 kJ/mol18th1213.1 kJ/mol19th1288.0 kJ/mol20th5674.9 kJ/mol21th6033.8 kJ/molSuccessive Ionization Energies

Emission Spectrumvisible range · characteristic spectral lines

391
402
536
573
Sc emission
380nm750nm
391.2 nm(100%)402.4 nm(70%)535.7 nm(30%)572.8 nm(20%)

Abundanceby mass

🌍Earth's Crust
22.0 ppm
🌊Ocean
6.0e-7 ppm
✨Universe
3.0 ppb
🧬Human Body—

Log scale · ppm = parts per million by mass

Biological Role

No biological role

No known biological role.

Discovery

Discovered By

Lars Nilson

Named By

—

Year

1879

Nuclear Data

Known Isotopes

29

Stable Isotopes

6

Stable Mass Numbers

35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 45

Natural isotopic abundance (IUPAC recommended values)

Isotopes of Sc29 known

NuclideZNMass (AMU)Half-lifeDecayJπAbundance
35Scstable211435.029093Stablep7/2-—
36Scstable211536.017338Stablep——
37Scstable211637.004058Stablep7/2-—
38Scstable211737.995438Stablep2-—
39Scstable211838.984785Stablep (1%)7/2-—
45Scstable212444.955907Stablestable (1%)7/2-10000.0000%
61Sc214061.000537Unknownβ⁻, β⁻n, 2n7/2-—
62Sc214162.007848Unknownβ⁻, β⁻n, 2n——
63Sc214263.014031Unknownβ⁻, β⁻n, 2n7/2-—

Click any isotope for its full page with decay chain:

35Sc36Sc37Sc38Sc39Sc40Sc41Sc42Sc43Sc44Sc45Sc46Sc47Sc48Sc49Sc50Sc51Sc52Sc53Sc54Sc55Sc56Sc57Sc58Sc59Sc60Sc61Sc62Sc63Sc
Wikipedia →Data: Bowserinator · IAEA NDS · mendeleev