View source for Group 3 element

{{Short description|Group of chemical elements}}
{{for|the other group formerly named ''Group III'' (boron group)|Group 13 element}}
{{good article}}
{{Infobox periodic table group/header
| title       = Group&nbsp;3 {{nowrap|in the periodic table}}
| group number= 3
| trivial name=
| by element  = scandium group
| CAS         = IIIB
| old IUPAC   = IIIA
| mark        = Sc,Y,Lu,Lr
| left        = [[alkaline earth metal]]s
| right       = [[Group 4 element|group 4]]
}}
|-
! colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" | ↓&nbsp;<small>[[Period (periodic table)|Period]]</small>
|-
! [[Period 4 element|4]]
| {{element cell image|21|Scandium|Sc| |Solid|Transition metal|Primordial|image=Scandium sublimed dendritic and 1cm3 cube.jpg|image caption=Scandium crystals}}
|-
! [[Period 5 element|5]]
| {{element cell image|39|Yttrium|Y| |Solid|Transition metal|Primordial|image=Yttrium sublimed dendritic and 1cm3 cube.jpg|image caption=Yttrium crystals}}
|-
! [[Period 6 element|6]]
| {{element cell image|71|Lutetium|Lu| |Solid|Lanthanide|Primordial|image=Lutetium_sublimed_dendritic_and_1cm3_cube.jpg|image caption=Lutetium crystals}}
|-
! [[Period 7 element|7]]
| {{element cell image|103|Lawrencium|Lr| |Solid|Actinide|From decay}}
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align:left" |
|-
| colspan="2" |
----
''Legend''
{| style="text-align:center; border:0; margin:1em auto;"
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| style="border:{{element color|Primordial}}; background:{{Element color|table mark}}; padding:0 2px;" | [[primordial element]]
|-
| style="border:{{element color|Synthetic}}; background:{{Element color|table mark}}; padding:0 2px;" | [[synthetic element]]
|-
| Atomic number color:
|}
|}

'''Group 3''' is the first group of [[transition metal]]s in the [[periodic table]]. This group is closely related to the [[rare-earth element]]s. It contains the four elements [[scandium]] (Sc), [[yttrium]] (Y), [[lutetium]] (Lu), and [[lawrencium]] (Lr). The group is also called the '''scandium group''' or '''scandium family''' after its lightest member.

The chemistry of the group 3 elements is typical for early transition metals: they all essentially have only the group [[oxidation state]] of +3 as a major one, and like the preceding main-group metals are quite electropositive and have a less rich coordination chemistry. Due to the effects of the [[lanthanide contraction]], yttrium and lutetium are very similar in properties. Yttrium and lutetium have essentially the chemistry of the heavy [[lanthanide]]s, but scandium shows several differences due to its small size. This is a similar pattern to those of the early transition metal groups, where the lightest element is distinct from the very similar next two.

All the group 3 elements are rather soft, silvery-white metals, although their hardness increases with atomic number. They quickly tarnish in air and react with water, though their reactivity is masked by the formation of an oxide layer. The first three of them occur naturally, and especially yttrium and lutetium are almost invariably associated with the [[lanthanide]]s due to their similar chemistry. Lawrencium is strongly [[radioactive]]: it does not occur naturally and must be produced by artificial synthesis, but its observed and theoretically predicted properties are consistent with it being a heavier homologue of lutetium. None of the group 3 elements have any biological role.

Historically, sometimes [[lanthanum]] (La) and [[actinium]] (Ac) were included in the group instead of lutetium and lawrencium, because the [[electron configuration]]s of many of the rare earths were initially measured wrongly. This version of group 3 is still commonly found in textbooks, but most authors focusing on the subject are against it. Some authors attempt to compromise between the two formats by leaving the spaces below yttrium blank, but this contradicts [[quantum mechanics]] as it results in an f-block that is 15 elements wide rather than 14 (the maximum occupancy of an f-subshell).
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==Composition==
{{Periodic table (micro)|mark=Sc,Y,Lu,Lr|title=Group&nbsp;3: Sc, Y, Lu, Lr [[Image:Yes check.svg|15px|Correct]]}}
{{Periodic table (micro)|form=Sc, Y, La, Ac|mark=Sc,Y,La,Ac|title=Group&nbsp;3: Sc, Y, La, Ac [[Image:X mark.svg|15px|Incorrect]]}}
Physical, chemical, and electronic evidence overwhelmingly shows that the correct elements in group 3 are scandium, yttrium, lutetium, and lawrencium:<ref>Rothbaum, J. O.; Motta, A.*; Kratish, Y.*; Marks, T.J.* Chemodivergent Organolanthanide Catalyzed C-H a-Mono-Borylation of Pyridines. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 17086-17096: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.2c06844</ref><ref name="Jensen2015">{{cite journal |last1=Jensen |first1=William B. |date=2015 |author-link=William B. Jensen |title=The positions of lanthanum (actinium) and lutetium (lawrencium) in the periodic table: an update |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10698-015-9216-1 |journal=Foundations of Chemistry |volume=17 |issue= |pages=23–31 |doi=10.1007/s10698-015-9216-1 |s2cid=98624395 |access-date=28 January 2021 |archive-date=30 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210130011116/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10698-015-9216-1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Fluck">{{cite journal |last1=Fluck |first1=E. |year=1988 |title=New Notations in the Periodic Table |journal=[[Pure and Applied Chemistry|Pure Appl. Chem.]] |volume=60 |pages=431–436|doi=10.1351/pac198860030431 |url=https://www.iupac.org/publications/pac/1988/pdf/6003x0431.pdf |access-date=24 March 2012 |issue=3 |s2cid=96704008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325152951/https://www.iupac.org/publications/pac/1988/pdf/6003x0431.pdf |archive-date=25 March 2012}}</ref><ref name="Jensen1982">{{cite journal |title=The Positions of Lanthanum (Actinium) and Lutetium (Lawrencium) in the Periodic Table |first=William B. |last=Jensen |author-link=William B. Jensen |journal=J. Chem. Educ. |year=1982 |volume=59 |issue = 8|pages=634–636 |doi=10.1021/ed059p634|bibcode=1982JChEd..59..634J }}</ref><ref name=Landau>{{cite book
 |author=[[Lev Landau|L. D. Landau]], [[Evgeny Lifshitz|E. M. Lifshitz]]
 |year=1958
 |title=Quantum Mechanics: Non-Relativistic Theory
 |edition=1st |volume=3
 |publisher=[[Pergamon Press]]
 |pages=256–7
}}</ref><ref name="Wittig">{{cite book |last=Wittig |first=Jörg |editor=H. J. Queisser |date=1973 |title=Festkörper Probleme: Plenary Lectures of the Divisions Semiconductor Physics, Surface Physics, Low Temperature Physics, High Polymers, Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics, of the German Physical Society, Münster, March 19–24, 1973 |chapter=The pressure variable in solid state physics: What about 4f-band superconductors? |series=Advances in Solid State Physics |volume=13 |location=Berlin, Heidelberg |publisher=Springer |pages=375–396 |isbn=978-3-528-08019-8 |doi=10.1007/BFb0108579}}</ref><ref name=Matthias>{{cite book |last=Matthias |first=B. T. |date=1969 |editor-last=Wallace |editor-first=P. R. |title=Superconductivity |publisher=Gordon and Breach |pages=225–294 <!--precise quote calling it a mistake is on pp. 247–9--> |chapter=Systematics of Super Conductivity |isbn=9780677138107 |volume=1}}</ref> this is the classification adopted by most chemists and physicists who have considered the matter.<ref name=Jensen2015/> It was supported by IUPAC in a 1988 report<ref name=Fluck/> and reaffirmed in 2021.<ref name=2021IUPAC/> Many textbooks however show group 3 as containing scandium, yttrium, lanthanum, and actinium, a format based on historically wrongly measured electron configurations:<ref name=Jensen1982/> [[Lev Landau]] and [[Evgeny Lifshitz]] already considered it to be "incorrect" in 1948,<ref name=Landau/> but the issue was brought to a wide debate only in 1982 by [[William B. Jensen]].<ref name="Jensen1982"/>

The spaces below yttrium are sometimes left blank as a third option, but there is confusion in the literature on whether this format implies that group 3 contains only scandium and yttrium, or if it also contains all the lanthanides and actinides;<ref name=2021IUPAC/><ref name=Thyssen/><ref name="JWP">{{cite journal |author=Barber, Robert C. |author2=Karol, Paul J |author3=Nakahara, Hiromichi |author4=Vardaci, Emanuele |author5=Vogt, Erich W. |title=Discovery of the elements with atomic numbers greater than or equal to 113 (IUPAC Technical Report) |doi=10.1351/PAC-REP-10-05-01 |journal=Pure Appl. Chem. |date=2011 |volume=83 |issue=7 |page=1485|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Karol">{{cite journal |last1=Karol |first1=Paul J. |last2=Barber |first2=Robert C. |last3=Sherrill |first3=Bradley M. |last4=Vardaci |first4=Emanuele |last5=Yamazaki |first5=Toshimitsu |date=22 December 2015 |title=Discovery of the elements with atomic numbers Z = 113, 115 and 117 (IUPAC Technical Report) |journal=Pure Appl. Chem. |volume=88 |issue=1–2 |pages=139–153 |doi=10.1515/pac-2015-0502|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pyykkö |first1=Pekka |date=2019 |title=An essay on periodic tables |url=http://www.chem.helsinki.fi/~pyykko/pekka/No330b.pdf |journal=Pure and Applied Chemistry |volume=91 |issue=12 |pages=1959–1967 |doi=10.1515/pac-2019-0801 |s2cid=203944816 |access-date=27 November 2022}}</ref> either way, this format contradicts quantum physics by creating a 15-element-wide f-block when only 14 electrons can fit in an f-subshell.<ref name=2021IUPAC/> While the 2021 IUPAC report noted that 15-element-wide f-blocks are supported by some practitioners of a specialised branch of [[relativistic quantum mechanics]] focusing on the properties of [[superheavy element]]s, the project's opinion was that such interest-dependent concerns should not have any bearing on how the periodic table is presented to "the general chemical and scientific community".<ref name=2021IUPAC/> In fact, relativistic quantum-mechanical calculations of Lu and Lr compounds found no valence f-orbitals in either element.<ref name=XuPyykko>{{cite journal |last1=Xu |first1=Wen-Hua |last2=Pyykkö |first2=Pekka |date=8 June 2016 |url=http://pubs.rsc.org/-/content/articlehtml/2016/cp/c6cp02706g |title=Is the chemistry of lawrencium peculiar |journal=Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. |volume=2016 |issue=18 |pages=17351–5 |doi=10.1039/c6cp02706g |pmid=27314425 |access-date=24 April 2017|bibcode=2016PCCP...1817351X |hdl=10138/224395 |s2cid=31224634 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Other authors focusing on superheavy elements since clarified that the "15th entry of the f-block represents the first slot of the d-block which is left vacant to indicate the place of the f-block inserts", which would imply that this form still has Lu and Lr (the 15th entries in question) as d-block elements under Sc and Y.<ref name=smits>{{cite journal |last1=Smits |first1=Odile R. |last2=Düllmann |first2=Christoph E. |last3=Indelicato |first3=Paul |last4=Nazarewicz |first4=Witold |last5=Schwerdtfeger |first5=Peter |date=2023 |title=The quest for superheavy elements and the limit of the periodic table |url= |journal=Nature Reviews Physics |volume= 6|issue= 2|pages= 86–98|doi=10.1038/s42254-023-00668-y |s2cid=266276980 |access-date=}}</ref> Indeed, when IUPAC publications expand the table to 32 columns, they make this clear and place Lu and Lr under Y.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Leigh |first1=G. Jeffrey |date=2009 |title=Periodic Tables and IUPAC |url=https://publications.iupac.org/ci/2009/3101/1_leigh.html |journal=Chemistry International |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=4–6 |doi=10.1515/ci.2009.31.1.4 |access-date=8 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Leigh |editor-first=G. Jeffrey |date=1990 |title=Nomenclature of inorganic chemistry : recommendations 1990 |url=https://archive.org/details/nomenclatureofin0000unse/page/282/mode/2up |location= |publisher=Blackwell Scientific Publications |page=283 |isbn=0-632-02319-8}}</ref>

As noted by the 2021 IUPAC report, Sc-Y-Lu-Lr is the only form that simultaneously allows for the preservation of the sequence of atomic number, avoids splitting the d-block into "two highly uneven portions", and gives the blocks the correct widths quantum mechanics demands (2, 6, 10, and 14).<ref name="2021IUPAC">{{cite journal |last1=Scerri |first1=Eric |date=18 January 2021 |title=Provisional Report on Discussions on Group 3 of the Periodic Table |url=https://iupac.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/ChemInt_Jan2021_PP.pdf |journal=Chemistry International |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=31–34 |doi=10.1515/ci-2021-0115 |s2cid=231694898 |access-date=9 April 2021 |archive-date=13 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413150110/https://iupac.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/ChemInt_Jan2021_PP.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> While arguments in favour of Sc-Y-La-Ac can still be found in the literature, many authors consider them to be logically inconsistent.<ref name=Jensen1982/><ref name=Jensen2015/> For example, it has been argued that lanthanum and actinium cannot be f-block elements because their atoms have not begun to fill the f-subshells.<ref name=Lavelle>{{cite journal |last1=Lavelle |first1=Laurence |date=2008 |title=Lanthanum (La) and Actinium (Ac) Should Remain in the d-block |journal=Journal of Chemical Education |volume=85 |issue=11 |pages=1482–1483 |doi=10.1021/ed085p1482|bibcode=2008JChEd..85.1482L |doi-access=free }}</ref> But the same is true of thorium which is never disputed as an f-block element,<ref name=2021IUPAC/><ref name=Jensen1982/> and this argument overlooks the problem on the other end: that the f-shells complete filling at ytterbium and nobelium (matching the Sc-Y-Lu-Lr form), not at lutetium and lawrencium (as in Sc-Y-La-Ac).<ref name=johnson>{{cite book |last=Johnson |first=David |author-link= |date=1984 |title=The Periodic Law |url=https://www.rsc.org/images/23_The_Periodic_Law_tcm18-30005.pdf |location= |publisher=The Royal Society of Chemistry |page= |isbn=0-85186-428-7}}</ref> Lanthanum, actinium, and thorium are simply examples of exceptions to the [[Aufbau principle#Madelung energy ordering rule|Madelung rule]]; not only do those exceptions represent a minority of elements (only 20 out of 118),<ref name=johnson/> but they have also never been considered as relevant for positioning any other elements on the periodic table. In gaseous atoms, the d-shells complete their filling at copper (3d<sup>10</sup>4s<sup>1</sup>), palladium (4d<sup>10</sup>5s<sup>0</sup>), and gold (5d<sup>10</sup>6s<sup>1</sup>), but it is universally accepted by chemists that these configurations are exceptional and that the d-block really ends in accordance with the Madelung rule at zinc (3d<sup>10</sup>4s<sup>2</sup>), cadmium (4d<sup>10</sup>5s<sup>2</sup>), and mercury (5d<sup>10</sup>6s<sup>2</sup>).<ref name="Thyssen">{{cite book|last1=Thyssen|first1=P.|last2=Binnemans|first2=K.|editor1-last=Gschneidner|editor1-first= K. A. Jr.|editor2-last=Bünzli|editor2-first=J-C.G|editor3-last=Vecharsky|editor3-first=Bünzli|date=2011|title=Accommodation of the Rare Earths in the Periodic Table: A Historical Analysis|journal=Handbook on the Physics and Chemistry of Rare Earths|publisher=Elsevier|location=Amsterdam|volume=41|pages=1–94|isbn=978-0-444-53590-0|doi=10.1016/B978-0-444-53590-0.00001-7}}</ref> The relevant fact for placement is that lanthanum and actinium (like thorium) have valence f-orbitals that can become occupied in chemical environments, whereas lutetium and lawrencium do not:<ref name=Wittig/><ref name=jensenlaw/> their f-shells are in the core, and cannot be used for chemical reactions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wulfsberg |first=Gary |author-link= |date=2000 |title=Inorganic Chemistry |url= |location= |publisher=University Science Books |page=26 |isbn=9781891389016}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1=Krinsky | first1=Jamin L. | last2=Minasian | first2=Stefan G. | last3=Arnold | first3=John | title=Covalent Lanthanide Chemistry Near the Limit of Weak Bonding: Observation of (CpSiMe<sub>3</sub>)<sub>3</sub>Ce−ECp* and a Comprehensive Density Functional Theory Analysis of Cp<sub>3</sub>Ln−ECp (E = Al, Ga) | journal=Inorganic Chemistry | publisher=American Chemical Society (ACS) | volume=50 | issue=1 | date=2010-12-08 | issn=0020-1669 | doi=10.1021/ic102028d | pages=345–357| pmid=21141834 }}</ref> Thus the relationship between yttrium and lanthanum is only a secondary relationship between elements with the same number of valence electrons but different kinds of valence orbitals, such as that between chromium and uranium; whereas the relationship between yttrium and lutetium is primary, sharing both valence electron count and valence orbital type.<ref name=jensenlaw>{{cite web|url=http://www.che.uc.edu/jensen/W.%20B.%20Jensen/Reprints/081.%20Periodic%20Table.pdf|last1=Jensen|first1=William B.|authorlink=William B. Jensen|title=The Periodic Law and Table|date=2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201110113324/http://www.che.uc.edu/jensen/W.%20B.%20Jensen/Reprints/081.%20Periodic%20Table.pdf |access-date=10 December 2022|archive-date=2020-11-10 }}</ref>

==History==
The discovery of the group 3 elements is inextricably tied to that of the [[rare-earth elements|rare earths]], with which they are universally associated in nature. In 1787, Swedish part-time chemist [[Carl Axel Arrhenius]] found a heavy black rock near the Swedish village of [[Ytterby]], Sweden (part of the [[Stockholm Archipelago]]).<ref name=vanderkrogty>{{cite web|last = van der Krogt|first = Peter|title = 39 Yttrium – Elementymology & Elements Multidict|url = http://elements.vanderkrogt.net/element.php?sym=Y|access-date = 2008-08-06|publisher=Elements.vanderkrogt.net}}</ref> Thinking that it was an unknown mineral containing the newly discovered element [[tungsten]],<ref name="Emsley496">[[#Emsley2001|Emsley 2001]], p. 496</ref> he named it [[ytterbite]].{{efn|''Ytterbite'' was named after the village it was discovered near, plus the -ite ending to indicate it was a mineral.}} Finnish scientist [[Johan Gadolin]] identified a new oxide or "[[Earth (chemistry)|earth]]" in Arrhenius' sample in 1789, and published his completed analysis in 1794;<ref>{{cite journal|first= Johan|last = Gadolin|author-link = Johan Gadolin|title = Undersökning af en svart tung Stenart ifrån Ytterby Stenbrott i Roslagen|journal = Kongl. Vetenskaps Academiens Nya Handlingar|volume = 15|year= 1794|pages= 137–155|language=sv}}</ref> in 1797, the new oxide was named ''yttria''.<ref name=Greenwood944>Greenwood and Earnshaw, p. 944</ref> In the decades after French scientist [[Antoine Lavoisier]] developed the first modern definition of [[chemical element]]s, it was believed that earths could be reduced to their elements, meaning that the discovery of a new earth was equivalent to the discovery of the element within, which in this case would have been ''yttrium''.{{efn|Earths were given an -a ending and new elements are normally given an -ium ending.}} Until the early 1920s, the chemical symbol "Yt" was used for the element, after which "Y" came into common use.<ref>{{cite journal|journal = Pure Appl. Chem.|volume = 70|issue = 1|pages = 237–257|year = 1998|first1 = Tyler B.|last1 = Coplen|last2=Peiser|first2=H. S.|title = History of the Recommended Atomic-Weight Values from 1882 to 1997: A Comparison of Differences from Current Values to the Estimated Uncertainties of Earlier Values (Technical Report)|publisher = [[IUPAC Inorganic Chemistry Division|IUPAC's Inorganic Chemistry Division]] Commission on Atomic Weights and Isotopic Abundances|doi = 10.1351/pac199870010237|s2cid = 96729044|url = https://zenodo.org/record/1236255|doi-access = free}}</ref> Yttrium metal, albeit impure, was first prepared in 1828 when [[Friedrich Wöhler]] heated anhydrous [[yttrium(III) chloride]] with [[potassium]] to form metallic yttrium and [[potassium chloride]].<ref>{{cite book|last = Heiserman|first = David L.|title = Exploring Chemical Elements and their Compounds|location = New York|publisher = TAB Books|isbn = 0-8306-3018-X|chapter = Element 39: Yttrium|pages = 150–152|year = 1992|chapter-url-access = registration|chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/exploringchemica01heis}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal = Annalen der Physik|volume = 89|issue = 8|pages = 577–582|title = Über das Beryllium und Yttrium|first = Friedrich|last = Wöhler|author-link = Friedrich Wöhler|doi = 10.1002/andp.18280890805|year = 1828|bibcode = 1828AnP....89..577W |language=de|url = https://zenodo.org/record/1423522}}</ref> In fact, Gadolin's yttria proved to be a mixture of many metal oxides, that started the history of the discovery of the rare earths.<ref name=Greenwood944/>

In 1869, Russian chemist [[Dmitri Mendeleev]] published his periodic table, which had an empty space for an element above yttrium.<ref>{{cite book|pages=100–102|title=The Ingredients: A Guided Tour of the Elements|author=Ball, Philip|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2002|isbn=0-19-284100-9}}</ref> Mendeleev made several predictions on this hypothetical element, which he called ''eka-boron''. By then, Gadolin's yttria had already been split several times; first by Swedish chemist [[Carl Gustaf Mosander]], who in 1843 had split out two more earths which he called ''terbia'' and ''erbia'' (splitting the name of Ytterby just as yttria had been split); and then in 1878 when Swiss chemist [[Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac]] split terbia and erbia themselves into more earths. Among these was ytterbia (a component of the old erbia),<ref name=vanderkrogty/> which Swedish chemist [[Lars Fredrik Nilson]] successfully split in 1879 to reveal yet another new element.<ref name="Nilsonfr">{{cite journal|title = Sur l'ytterbine, terre nouvelle de M. Marignac|url =http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k30457/f639.table| journal = [[Comptes Rendus]]|author = Nilson, Lars Fredrik|volume = 88| year =1879|pages = 642–647|language=fr}}</ref><ref name="Nilsonde">{{cite journal|title = Ueber Scandium, ein neues Erdmetall|journal = [[Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft]]|volume = 12|issue =1|year = 1879|pages = 554–557|author = Nilson, Lars Fredrik|doi = 10.1002/cber.187901201157|language=de|url = https://zenodo.org/record/1425172}}</ref> He named it scandium, from the [[Latin]] ''Scandia'' meaning "Scandinavia". Nilson was apparently unaware of Mendeleev's prediction, but [[Per Teodor Cleve]] recognized the correspondence and notified Mendeleev. Chemical experiments on scandium proved that [[Dmitri Mendeleev's predicted elements|Mendeleev's suggestions]] were correct; along with discovery and characterization of [[gallium]] and [[germanium]] this proved the correctness of the whole periodic table and [[periodic law]].<ref>{{cite journal|title = Sur le scandium| url =http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3046j/f432.table|journal = Comptes Rendus|author = Cleve, Per Teodor |volume = 89| year =1879|pages=419–422|language=fr}}</ref> Metallic scandium was produced for the first time in 1937 by [[electrolysis]] of a [[eutectic]] mixture, at 700–800&nbsp;°C, of [[potassium]], [[lithium]], and [[scandium chloride]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|title = Über das metallische Scandium| journal = [[Zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine Chemie]]|volume = 231| issue = 1–2| year =1937| pages = 54–62| first1= Werner|last1 = Fischer| last2=Brünger|first2=Karl|last3=Grieneisen|first3=Hans|doi = 10.1002/zaac.19372310107|language=de}}</ref> Scandium exists in the same ores that yttrium had been discovered from, but is much rarer and probably for that reason had eluded discovery.<ref name=Greenwood944/>

The remaining component of Marignac's ytterbia also proved to be a composite. In 1907, French scientist [[Georges Urbain]],<ref>{{cite journal|title = Un nouvel élément, le lutécium, résultant du dédoublement de l'ytterbium de Marignac|journal = Comptes rendus|volume = 145|year = 1908|url = http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3099v/f759.table|pages = 759–762|author = Urbain, M. G. |language=fr}}</ref> Austrian mineralogist Baron [[Carl Auer von Welsbach]], and American chemist [[Charles James (chemist)|Charles James]]<ref>{{cite web | title = Separation of Rare Earth Elements by Charles James | work = National Historic Chemical Landmarks | publisher = American Chemical Society | url = http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/earthelements.html | access-date = 2014-02-21 }}</ref> all independently discovered a new element within ytterbia. Welsbach proposed the name ''cassiopeium'' for his new element (after [[Cassiopeia (constellation)|Cassiopeia]]), whereas Urbain chose the name ''lutecium'' (from Latin Lutetia, for Paris). The dispute on the priority of the discovery is documented in two articles in which Urbain and von Welsbach accuse each other of publishing results influenced by the published research of the other.<ref>{{cite journal|title = Die Zerlegung des Ytterbiums in seine Elemente|journal = Monatshefte für Chemie|volume = 29|issue = 2|year = 1908|doi = 10.1007/BF01558944|pages = 181–225|author1=von Welsbach |author2=Carl Auer |s2cid = 197766399|language=de|url = https://zenodo.org/record/2348610}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title = Lutetium und Neoytterbium oder Cassiopeium und Aldebaranium – Erwiderung auf den Artikel des Herrn Auer v. Welsbach|year = 1909|journal = Monatshefte für Chemie|volume = 31|issue = 10|doi = 10.1007/BF01530262|author = Urbain, G. |pages = I|s2cid = 101825980|language=de|url = https://zenodo.org/record/1859372}}</ref> In 1909, the Commission on Atomic Mass, which was responsible for the attribution of the names for the new elements, granted priority to Urbain and adopting his names as official ones. An obvious problem with this decision was that Urbain was one of the four members of the commission.<ref>{{cite journal|title = Bericht des Internationalen Atomgewichts-Ausschusses für 1909|year = 1909|journal = Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft
|volume = 42|issue = 1|pages = 11–17| doi =10.1002/cber.19090420104|author1=Clarke, F. W. |author2=Ostwald, W. |author3=Thorpe, T. E. |author4=Urbain, G. |language=de|url = https://zenodo.org/record/1426323}}</ref> In 1949, the spelling of element 71 was changed to lutetium.<ref>{{cite web|last = van der Krogt|first = Peter|url=http://elements.vanderkrogt.net/element.php?sym=Yb|title=70. Ytterbium – Elementymology & Elements Multidict |publisher=Elements.vanderkrogt.net |access-date=4 July 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last = van der Krogt|first = Peter|url=http://elements.vanderkrogt.net/element.php?sym=Lu|title=71. Lutetium – Elementymology & Elements Multidict |publisher=Elements.vanderkrogt.net |access-date=4 July 2011}}</ref> Later work connected with Urbain's attempts to further split his lutecium however revealed that it had only contained traces of the new element 71, and that it was only von Welsbach's cassiopeium that was pure element 71. For this reason many German scientists continued to use the name ''cassiopeium''  for the element until the 1950s. Ironically, Charles James, who had modestly stayed out of the argument as to priority, worked on a much larger scale than the others, and undoubtedly possessed the largest supply of lutetium at the time.<ref name=history>{{cite book| pages=240–242| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=Yhi5X7OwuGkC&pg=PA241| title =Nature's building blocks: an A-Z guide to the elements| author =Emsley, John | publisher=Oxford University Press |location =US| year = 2001| isbn = 0-19-850341-5}}</ref> Lutetium was the last of the stable rare earths to be discovered. Over a century of research had split the original yttrium of Gadolin into yttrium, scandium, lutetium, and seven other new elements.<ref name=vanderkrogty/>

Lawrencium is the only element of the group that does not occur naturally. It was probably first synthesized by [[Albert Ghiorso]] and his team on February 14, 1961, at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (now called the [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]]) at the [[University of California, Berkeley|University of California]] in [[Berkeley, California]], [[United States]]. The first atoms of lawrencium were produced by bombarding a three-milligram target consisting of three isotopes of the element [[californium]] with [[boron]]-10 and boron-11 [[atomic nucleus|nuclei]] from the Heavy Ion Linear Accelerator (HILAC).<ref name="Lr">{{cite journal|first1=Albert|last1=Ghiorso|author-link=Albert Ghiorso|last2=Sikkeland|first2=T.| last3=Larsh|first3=A. E.|last4=Latimer|first4=R. M.|journal=Phys. Rev. Lett.|volume=6|page=473|year=1961|bibcode = 1961PhRvL...6..473G |doi = 10.1103/PhysRevLett.6.473|title=New Element, Lawrencium, Atomic Number 103|issue=9 |url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt2s43n491/qt2s43n491.pdf?t=p0t24m}}</ref> The [[nuclide]] <sup>257</sup>103 was originally reported. The team at the University of California suggested the name ''lawrencium'' (after [[Ernest O. Lawrence]], the inventor of [[cyclotron]] particle accelerator) and the symbol "Lw",<ref name="Lr"/> for the new element; IUPAC accepted their discovery, but changed the symbol to "Lr".<ref name=recentdev/> In 1965, nuclear-physics researchers in [[Dubna]], [[Soviet Union]] (now [[Russia]]) reported <sup>256</sup>103,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Donets |first1=E. D. |last2=Shchegolev |first2=V. A. |last3=Ermakov |first3=V. A. |journal=Atomnaya Énergiya |volume=19 |issue=2 |page=109 |date=1965 |language= ru |title= Synthesis of the isotope of element 103 (lawrencium) with mass number 256}}<br />
:Translated in {{cite journal |last1=Donets |first1=E. D. |last2=Shchegolev |first2=V. A. |last3=Ermakov |first3=V. A. |year=1965 |title=Synthesis of the isotope of element 103 (lawrencium) with mass number 256 |journal=Soviet Atomic Energy |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=109 |doi=10.1007/BF01126414|s2cid=97218361 }}</ref> in 1967, they reported that they were not able to confirm American scientists' data on <sup>257</sup>103,<ref>{{cite journal|first=G. N.|last=Flerov|title=On the nuclear properties of the isotopes <sup>256</sup>103 and <sup>257</sup>103|journal=Nucl. Phys. A|volume=106|issue=2|page=476|date=1967|bibcode= 1967NuPhA.106..476F|doi=10.1016/0375-9474(67)90892-5}}</ref> and proposed the name "rutherfordium" for the new element.<ref name=Karpenko>{{cite journal |last1=Karpenko |first1=V. |date=1980 |title=The Discovery of Supposed New Elements: Two Centuries of Errors |journal=Ambix |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=77–102 |doi=10.1179/amb.1980.27.2.77}}</ref> The Dubna group criticised the IUPAC approval of the Berkeley group's discovery as having been hasty.<ref name=93TWG/> In 1971, the Berkeley group did a whole series of experiments aimed at measuring the nuclear decay properties of element 103 isotopes,<ref name="Eskola">{{cite journal|journal=Phys. Rev. C| volume=4|issue=2|pages=632–642|date=1971|title=Studies of Lawrencium Isotopes with Mass Numbers 255 Through 260|author=Eskola, Kari|author2=Eskola, Pirkko|author3=Nurmia, Matti|author4=Albert Ghiorso |doi=10.1103/PhysRevC.4.632|bibcode = 1971PhRvC...4..632E | url=http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/1476j5n1}}</ref> in which all previous results from Berkeley and Dubna were confirmed, except that the initial <sup>257</sup>103 isotope reported at Berkeley in 1961 turned out to have been <sup>258</sup>103.<ref name="93TWG">{{Cite journal|doi=10.1351/pac199365081757|title=Discovery of the transfermium elements. Part II: Introduction to discovery profiles. Part III: Discovery profiles of the transfermium elements|year=1993|author=Barber, R. C.|journal=Pure and Applied Chemistry|volume=65|pages=1757|last2=Greenwood|first2=N. N.|last3=Hrynkiewicz|first3=A. Z.|last4=Jeannin|first4=Y. P.|last5=Lefort|first5=M.|last6=Sakai|first6=M.|last7=Ulehla|first7=I.|last8=Wapstra|first8=A. P.|last9=Wilkinson|first9=D. H.
|issue=8|s2cid=195819585|doi-access=free}} (Note: for Part I see Pure Appl. Chem., Vol. 63, No. 6, pp. 879–886, 1991)</ref> In 1992, the [[IUPAC]] Trans-fermium Working Group named the nuclear physics teams at Dubna and Berkeley as the co-discoverers of element 103. When IUPAC made the final decision of the naming of the elements beyond 100 in 1997, it decided to keep the name "lawrencium" and symbol "Lr" for element 103 as it had been in use for a long time by that point. The name "rutherfordium" was assigned to the following [[rutherfordium|element 104]], which the Berkeley team had proposed it for.<ref name=recentdev>{{cite journal|first=Norman N.|last=Greenwood|journal=Pure Appl. Chem.|volume=69|issue=1|pages=179–184|title=Recent developments concerning the discovery of elements 101–111|year=1997|doi=10.1351/pac199769010179|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Characteristics==

===Chemical===
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; font-size:95%;"
|+
! colspan=4 | [[Electron configuration]]s of the group 3 elements
|-
! {{abbr|1=''Z''|2=Atomic number}} !! Element !! colspan=2 | Electron configuration
|-
| style="text-align:right" | 21 || Sc, scandium || {{mono|2, 8, &nbsp;9, &nbsp;2}}    || {{mono|1=[Ar] &nbsp;&nbsp;<sup>&nbsp;&nbsp;</sup> 3d<sup>1</sup> 4s<sup>2</sup>}}
|-
| style="text-align:right" | 39 || Y, yttrium   || {{mono|2, 8, 18, &nbsp;9, &nbsp;2}}|| {{mono|1=[Kr] &nbsp;&nbsp;<sup>&nbsp;&nbsp;</sup> 4d<sup>1</sup> 5s<sup>2</sup>}}
|-
| style="text-align:right" | 71 || Lu, lutetium || {{mono|2, 8, 18, 32, &nbsp;9, 2}}  || {{mono|1=[Xe] 4f<sup>14</sup> 5d<sup>1</sup> 6s<sup>2</sup>}}
|-
| style="text-align:right" | 103 || Lr, lawrencium || {{mono|2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 8, 3}} || {{mono|1=[Rn] 5f<sup>14</sup> 6d<sup>0</sup> 7s<sup>2</sup> 7p<sup>1</sup>}}
|}
Like other groups, the members of this family show patterns in their electron configurations, especially the outermost shells, resulting in trends in chemical behavior. Due to [[Relativistic quantum chemistry|relativistic effects]] that become important for high atomic numbers, lawrencium's configuration has an irregular 7p occupancy instead of the expected 6d,<ref name="7p">{{cite journal |last1 = Eliav|first1 = E.|last2=Kaldor|first2=U.|last3=Ishikawa|first3=Y. |title = Transition energies of ytterbium, lutetium, and lawrencium by the relativistic coupled-cluster method |journal = [[Physical Review|Phys. Rev. A]]|volume = 52|issue = 1|pages = 291–296 |year = 1995 |doi = 10.1103/PhysRevA.52.291|pmid = 9912247|bibcode = 1995PhRvA..52..291E }}</ref><ref name="7p1/2">{{cite journal|last1 = Zou|first1 = Yu|last2=Froese|first2=Fischer C. |title = Resonance Transition Energies and Oscillator Strengths in Lutetium and Lawrencium|journal = [[Physical Review Letters|Phys. Rev. Lett.]] |volume = 88|page = 183001|year = 2002|pmid=12005680|issue=18|bibcode = 2001PhRvL..88b3001M |doi = 10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.023001 | s2cid=18391594 |url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=physicsuiterwaal}}</ref> but the regular [Rn]5f<sup>14</sup>6d<sup>1</sup>7s<sup>2</sup> configuration is low enough in energy that no significant difference from the rest of the group is observed or expected.<ref name="JensenLr">{{cite web|url=https://www.che.uc.edu/jensen/W.%20B.%20Jensen/Reprints/251.%20Lawrencium.pdf |title=Some Comments on the Position of Lawrencium in the Periodic Table |last1=Jensen |first1=W. B. |date=2015 |access-date=20 September 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223091325/https://www.che.uc.edu/jensen/W.%20B.%20Jensen/Reprints/251.%20Lawrencium.pdf |archive-date=23 December 2015 }}</ref><ref name=Xu>{{cite journal |last1=Xu |first1=W-H. |last2= Pyykkö|first2=P.|title=Is the chemistry of lawrencium peculiar? |journal=Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics |year=2016 |volume=18 |issue=26 |pages=17351–17355|doi=10.1039/C6CP02706G|pmid=27314425 |bibcode=2016PCCP...1817351X|hdl=10138/224395 |s2cid=31224634 |url=https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/10138/224395/1/c6cp02706g.pdf |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Most of the chemistry has been observed only for the first three members of the group; chemical properties of lawrencium are not well-characterized, but what is known and predicted matches its position as a heavier homolog of lutetium. The remaining elements of the group (scandium, yttrium, lutetium) are quite electropositive. They are reactive metals, although this is not obvious due to the formation of a stable oxide layer which prevents further reactions. The metals burn easily to give the oxides,<ref name=Greenwood964>Greenwood and Earnshaw, pp. 964–5</ref> which are white high-melting solids. They are usually oxidized to the +3 oxidation state, in which they form mostly ionic compounds and have a mostly cationic aqueous chemistry. In this way they are similar to the lanthanides,<ref name=Greenwood964/> although they lack the involvement of f orbitals that characterises the chemistry of the 4f elements lanthanum through ytterbium.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Fan |last2=Le-Min |first2=Li |date=2002 |title=镧系元素 4f 轨道在成键中的作用的理论研究 |trans-title=Theoretical Study on the Role of Lanthanide 4f Orbitals in Bonding |language=zh |journal=Acta Chimica Sinica |volume=62 |issue=8 |pages=1379–84}}</ref><ref name=LaF3>{{cite journal |last1=Xu |first1=Wei |last2=Ji |first2=Wen-Xin |first3=Yi-Xiang |last3=Qiu |first4=W. H. Eugen |last4=Schwarz |first5=Shu-Guang |last5=Wang |date=2013 |title=On structure and bonding of lanthanoid trifluorides LnF<sub>3</sub> (Ln = La to Lu) |journal=Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics |volume=2013 |issue=15 |pages=7839–47 |doi=10.1039/C3CP50717C|pmid=23598823 |bibcode=2013PCCP...15.7839X }}</ref> The stable group 3 elements are thus often grouped with the 4f elements as the so-called [[rare-earth element|rare earths]].<ref name=Greenwood964/>

Typical transition-metal properties are mostly absent from this group, as they are for the heavier elements of groups 4 and 5: there is only one typical oxidation state and the coordination chemistry is not very rich (though high coordination numbers are common due to the large size of the M<sup>3+</sup> ions). This said, low-oxidation state compounds may be prepared and some [[Cyclopentadienyl complex|cyclopentadienyl]] chemistry is known. The chemistries of group 3 elements are thus mostly distinguished by their atomic radii:<ref name=Greenwood964/> yttrium and lutetium are very similar,<ref>''The Heavy Transition Metals'', p. 3</ref> but scandium stands out as the least basic and the best complexing agent, approaching [[aluminium]] in some properties.<ref name=Greenwood964/> They naturally take their places together with the rare earths in a series of trivalent elements: yttrium acts as a rare earth intermediate between [[dysprosium]] and [[holmium]] in basicity; lutetium as less basic than the 4f elements and the least basic of the lanthanides; and scandium as a rare earth less basic than even lutetium.<ref name=Jorgensen>{{cite book |last=Jørgensen |first=Christian K. |date=1988 |title=Handbook on the Physics and Chemistry of Rare Earths |volume=11 |chapter=Influence of rare earths on chemical understanding and classification |pages=197–292 |doi=10.1016/S0168-1273(88)11007-6|isbn=9780444870803 }}</ref> Scandium oxide is [[amphoterism|amphoteric]]; lutetium oxide is more basic (although it can with difficulty be made to display some acidic properties), and yttrium oxide is more basic still.<ref>{{cite book|first=S. A.|last=Cotton|chapter=Scandium, Yttrium and the Lanthanides: Inorganic and Coordination Chemistry|title=Encyclopedia of Inorganic Chemistry|year=1994|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=0-471-93620-0}}</ref> Salts with strong acids of these metals are soluble, whereas those with weak acids (e.g. fluorides, phosphates, oxalates) are sparingly soluble or insoluble.<ref name=Greenwood964/>

===Physical===
The trends in group 3 follow those of the other early d-block groups and reflect the addition of a filled f-shell into the core in passing from the fifth to the sixth period. For example, scandium and yttrium are both soft metals. But because of the [[lanthanide contraction]], the expected increase in atomic radius from yttrium to lutetium is reversed; lutetium atoms are slightly smaller than yttrium atoms, but are heavier and have a higher nuclear charge.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chistyakov |first1=V. M. |date=1968 |title=Biron's Secondary Periodicity of the Side d-subgroups of Mendeleev's Short Table |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_russian-journal-of-general-chemistry_1968-02_38_2/page/212/mode/2up |journal=Journal of General Chemistry of the USSR |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=213–214 |doi= |access-date=6 January 2024}}</ref><ref name="r"/> This makes the metal more dense, and also harder because the extraction of the electrons from the atom to form [[metallic bonding]] becomes more difficult. All three metals have similar melting and boiling points.<ref name="n"/> Very little is known about lawrencium, but calculations suggest it continues the trend of its lighter congeners toward increasing density.<ref name=Lrdensity>{{cite journal |last=Fournier |first=Jean-Marc |date=1976 |title=Bonding and the electronic structure of the actinide metals |journal=Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=235–244 |doi=10.1016/0022-3697(76)90167-0|bibcode=1976JPCS...37..235F }}</ref><ref name=Penneman>{{cite journal |last1=Penneman |first1=R. A. |last2=Mann |first2=J. B. |date=1976 |title='Calculation chemistry' of the superheavy elements; comparison with elements of the 7th period |journal=Proceedings of the Moscow Symposium on the Chemistry of Transuranium Elements |pages=257–263 |doi=10.1016/B978-0-08-020638-7.50053-1 |isbn=978-0-08-020638-7 }}</ref>

Scandium, yttrium, and lutetium all crystallize in the [[hexagonal close-packed]] structure at room temperature,<ref name=Greenwood946>Greenwood and Earnshaw, pp. 946–8</ref> and lawrencium is expected to do the same.<ref name=hcp>{{cite journal|doi=10.1103/PhysRevB.84.113104|title=First-principles calculation of the structural stability of 6d transition metals|year=2011|last1=Östlin|first1=A.|last2=Vitos|first2=L.|journal=Physical Review B|volume=84|issue=11|page=113104|bibcode=2011PhRvB..84k3104O }}</ref> The stable members of the group are known to change structure at high temperature. In comparison with most metals, they are not very good conductors of heat and electricity because of the low number of electrons available for metallic bonding.<ref name=Greenwood946/>
{| class="wikitable centered" style="text-align:center;"
|+Properties of the group 3 elements| Properties of the group 3 elements<ref>{{cite book | editor = Lide, D. R. | title = CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics | edition = 84th | location = Boca Raton, FL | publisher = CRC Press | year = 2003 }}</ref>
! Name
! Sc, [[scandium]]
! Y, [[yttrium]]
! Lu, [[lutetium]]
! Lr, [[lawrencium]]
|-
| style="background:lightgrey; text-align:left;"|[[Melting point]]<ref name="nn">{{cite web|last = Barbalace|first = Kenneth|url = http://environmentalchemistry.com/yogi/periodic/meltingpoint.html|title = Periodic Table of Elements Sorted by Melting Point|publisher = Environmental Chemistry.com|access-date = 2011-05-18}}</ref>
| 1814&nbsp;K, 1541&nbsp;°C || 1799&nbsp;K, 1526&nbsp;°C || 1925&nbsp;K, 1652&nbsp;°C || 1900&nbsp;K, 1627&nbsp;°C
|-
|style="background:lightgrey; text-align:left;"|[[Boiling point]]<ref name="n">{{cite web|last = Barbalace|first = Kenneth|url = http://environmentalchemistry.com/yogi/periodic/boilingpoint.html|title = Periodic Table of Elements Sorted by Boiling Point|publisher = Environmental Chemistry.com|access-date = 2011-05-18}}</ref>
| 3109&nbsp;K, 2836&nbsp;°C || 3609&nbsp;K, 3336&nbsp;°C || 3675&nbsp;K, 3402&nbsp;°C || ?
|-
| style="background:lightgrey; text-align:left;"|[[Density]]
| 2.99&nbsp;g·cm<sup>−3</sup> || 4.47&nbsp;g·cm<sup>−3</sup> || 9.84&nbsp;g·cm<sup>−3</sup> || ? 14.4&nbsp;g·cm<sup>−3</sup>
|-
| style="background:lightgrey; text-align:left;"|Appearance
| silver metallic || silver white || silver gray || ?
|-
| style="background:lightgrey; text-align:left;"|[[Atomic radius]]<ref name="r">{{cite book |last=Dean |first=John A. |title=Lange's handbook of chemistry |publisher=McGraw-Hill, Inc|year=1999|pages=589–592|isbn=0-07-016190-9|edition=Fifteenth }}</ref>
| 162 pm || 180 pm || 174 pm || ?
|}

==Occurrence==
Scandium, yttrium, and lutetium tend to occur together with the other lanthanides (except short-lived [[promethium]]) in the Earth's crust, and are often harder to extract from their ores. The [[abundance of elements in Earth's crust]] for group 3 is quite low—all the elements in the group are uncommon, the most abundant being yttrium with abundance of approximately 30&nbsp;[[parts per million]] (ppm); the abundance of scandium is 16&nbsp;ppm, while that of lutetium is about 0.5&nbsp;ppm. For comparison, the abundance of copper is 50&nbsp;ppm, that of chromium is 160&nbsp;ppm, and that of molybdenum is 1.5&nbsp;ppm.<ref name="ffff">{{cite web|last = Barbalace|first = Kenneth|url = http://environmentalchemistry.com/yogi/periodic/|title = Periodic Table of Elements|publisher = Environmental Chemistry.com|access-date = 2007-04-14}}</ref>

Scandium is distributed sparsely and occurs in trace amounts in many [[mineral]]s.<ref>{{cite book| first = F.|last = Bernhard|chapter = Scandium mineralization associated with hydrothermal lazurite-quartz veins in the Lower Austroalpie Grobgneis complex, East Alps, Austria|title = Mineral Deposits in the Beginning of the 21st Century|year = 2001|isbn = 90-265-1846-3| publisher = Balkema| location = Lisse}}</ref> Rare minerals from Scandinavia<ref name="Thort">{{cite journal|title=Scandium – Mineraler I Norge |first=Roy |last=Kristiansen |journal=Stein |year=2003 |pages=14–23 |url=http://www.nags.net/Stein/2003/Sc-minerals.pdf |language=no |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101008054147/http://www.nags.net/Stein/2003/Sc-minerals.pdf |archive-date=October 8, 2010 }}</ref> and [[Madagascar]]<ref name="Mada">{{cite journal|journal=Geological Journal|volume = 22|page= 253|year =1987|title = Mineralized pegmatites in Africa|first1 = O.|last1 = von Knorring|last2=Condliffe|first2=E.| issue=S2 |doi = 10.1002/gj.3350220619| bibcode=1987GeolJ..22S.253V }}</ref> such as [[gadolinite]], [[euxenite]], and [[thortveitite]] are the only known concentrated sources of this element, the latter containing up to 45% of scandium in the form of [[scandium(III) oxide]].<ref name="Thort"/> Yttrium has the same trend in occurrence places; it is found in lunar rock samples collected during the [[United States|American]] [[Apollo Project]] in a relatively high content as well.<ref>{{cite book|title = Guide to the Elements|chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/guidetoelements00stwe|chapter-url-access = registration|edition = Revised|first = Albert|last = Stwertka|publisher = Oxford University Press|year = 1998|chapter = Yttrium|pages = [https://archive.org/details/guidetoelements00stwe/page/115 115–116]|isbn = 0-19-508083-1}}</ref>

[[File:Monazit - Mosambik, O-Afrika.jpg|thumb|alt=Piece of a yellow-gray rock|[[Monazite]], the most important lutetium ore]]
The principal commercially viable ore of lutetium is the rare-earth [[phosphate]] mineral [[monazite]], (Ce,La,etc.)PO<sub>4</sub>, which contains 0.003% of the element. The main mining areas are [[China]], [[United States]], [[Brazil]], [[India]], [[Sri Lanka]] and [[Australia]]. Pure lutetium [[metal]] is one of the rarest and most expensive of the rare-earth metals with the price about US$10,000/kg, or about one-fourth that of [[gold]].<ref>{{cite news| publisher = USGS| title =Rare-Earth Metals| author = Hedrick, James B. | access-date = 2009-06-06| url =http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/rare_earths/740798.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| title =Rare Earth Elements|author1=Castor, Stephen B.  |author2=Hedrick, James B. | access-date = 2009-06-06| url =http://www.rareelementresources.com/i/pdf/RareEarths-CastorHedrickIMAR7.pdf}}</ref>

==Production==
The most available element in group 3 is yttrium, with annual production of 8,900&nbsp;[[tonne]]s in 2010. Yttrium is mostly produced as [[oxide]], by a single country, China (99%).<ref>{{cite web|url = http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/rare_earths/mcs-2011-yttri.pdf|publisher = United States Geological Survey| access-date =2011-07-07|title = Mineral Commodity Summaries 2010: Yttrium}}</ref> Lutetium and scandium are also mostly obtained as oxides, and their annual production by 2001 was about 10 and 2&nbsp;tonnes, respectively.<ref>[[#Emsley2001|Emsley 2001]], p. 241</ref>

Group 3 elements are mined only as a byproduct from the extraction of other elements.<ref name="Deschamps"/> They are not often produced as the pure metals; the production of metallic yttrium is about a few tonnes, and that of scandium is in the order of 10&nbsp;kg per year;<ref name="Deschamps">{{cite web|first=Y. |last=Deschamps |access-date=2008-10-21 |url=http://www.mineralinfo.org/Substance/Scandium/Sc.pdf |publisher=mineralinfo.com |title=Scandium |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090225154344/http://www.mineralinfo.org/Substance/Scandium/Sc.pdf |archive-date=February 25, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/scandium/mcs-2011-scand.pdf|publisher = United States Geological Survey| access-date =2011-07-07|title = Mineral Commodity Summaries 2010: Scandium}}</ref> production of lutetium is not calculated, but it is certainly small. The elements, after purification from other rare-earth metals, are isolated as oxides; the oxides are converted to fluorides during reactions with hydrofluoric acid.<ref name="Holleman"/> The resulting fluorides are [[redox|reduced]] with [[alkaline earth metal]]s or alloys of the metals; metallic [[calcium]] is used most frequently.<ref name="Holleman">{{cite book|publisher = Walter de Gruyter|year = 1985|edition = 91–100|pages = 1056–1057|isbn = 3-11-007511-3|title = Lehrbuch der Anorganischen Chemie|first1 = Arnold F.
|last1 = Holleman|last2=Wiberg|first2=Egon|last3=Wiberg|first3=Nils|language=de}}</ref> For example:

:Sc<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> + 3&nbsp;HF → 2&nbsp;ScF<sub>3</sub> + 3&nbsp;H<sub>2</sub>O
:2&nbsp;ScF<sub>3</sub> + 3&nbsp;Ca → 3&nbsp;CaF<sub>2</sub> + 2&nbsp;Sc

==Biological chemistry==
Group 3 metals have low availability to the biosphere. Scandium, yttrium, and lutetium have no documented biological role in living organisms. The high radioactivity of lawrencium would make it highly toxic to living cells, causing radiation poisoning.

Scandium concentrates in the liver and is a threat to it; some of its compounds are possibly [[carcinogen]]ic, even though in general scandium is not toxic.<ref name="sc">{{cite web|year=1998|publisher=Lenntech|title=Scandium (Sc) — chemical properties of scandium, health effects of scandium, environmental effects of scandium|author=Lenntech|access-date=2011-05-21|url=http://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/sc.htm}}</ref> Scandium is known to have reached the food chain, but in trace amounts only; a typical human takes in less than 0.1&nbsp;micrograms per day.<ref name="sc"/> Once released into the environment, scandium gradually accumulates in soils, which leads to increased concentrations in soil particles, animals and humans. Scandium is mostly dangerous in the working environment, due to the fact that damps and gases can be inhaled with air. This can cause lung embolisms, especially during long-term exposure. The element is known to damage cell membranes of water animals, causing several negative influences on reproduction and on the functions of the nervous system.<ref name="sc"/>

Yttrium tends to concentrate in the liver, kidney, spleen, lungs, and bones of humans.<ref>{{cite journal|journal = Journal of Biological Chemistry|year = 1952|volume = 195|pages = 837–841|title = The Skeletal Deposition of Yttrium|first1 = N. S.|last1 = MacDonald|last2 = Nusbaum|first2 = R. E.|last3 = Alexander|first3 = G. V.|pmid = 14946195|issue = 2|doi = 10.1016/S0021-9258(18)55794-X|doi-access = free}}</ref> There is normally as little as 0.5&nbsp;milligrams found within the entire human body; human [[breast milk]] contains 4&nbsp;ppm.<ref name="Emsley495" /> Yttrium can be found in edible plants in concentrations between 20&nbsp;ppm and 100&nbsp;ppm (fresh weight), with [[cabbage]] having the largest amount.<ref name="Emsley495">[[#Emsley2001|Emsley 2001]], pp. 495–498</ref> With up to 700&nbsp;ppm, the seeds of woody plants have the highest known concentrations.<ref name="Emsley495"/>

Lutetium concentrates in bones, and to a lesser extent in the liver and kidneys.<ref name="Emsley240"/> Lutetium salts are known to cause metabolism and they occur together with other lanthanide salts in nature; the element is the least abundant in the human body of all lanthanides.<ref name="Emsley240"/> Human diets have not been monitored for lutetium content, so it is not known how much the average human takes in, but estimations show the amount is only about several micrograms per year, all coming from tiny amounts taken by plants. Soluble lutetium salts are mildly toxic, but insoluble ones are not.<ref name="Emsley240">[[#Emsley2001|Emsley 2001]], p. 240</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=Yhi5X7OwuGkC&pg=PA241| title =Nature's building blocks: an A-Z guide to the elements| author =Emsley, John | publisher=Oxford University Press |location =US| year = 2001| isbn = 0-19-850341-5|ref=Emsley2001}}
* {{Greenwood&Earnshaw2nd}}

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