Ytterby is a village on the Swedish island of
ResaröResarö is a locality situated in Vaxholm Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 2,347 inhabitants in 2005....
, in
Vaxholm MunicipalityVaxholm Municipality is a municipality within Stockholm archipelago in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. The municipal slogan is "Vaxholm – the capital of the archipelago", due to its central location in the archipelago...
in the
Stockholm archipelagoThe Stockholm archipelago is the biggest archipelago of Sweden, and one of the biggest archipelagos of the Baltic sea.-Geography:The archipelago extends from Stockholm roughly 60 kilometers to the east...
.
Lending its name to a famous quarry where many rare earth minerals have been discovered, the small village has been the inspiration for naming four of the
chemical elementA chemical element is a pure chemical substance consisting of one type of atom distinguished by its atomic number, which is the number of protons in its nucleus. The term is also used to refer to a pure chemical substance composed of atoms with the same number of protons.Common examples of elements...
s:
yttriumYttrium is a chemical element with symbol Y and atomic number 39. It is a silvery-metallic transition metal chemically similar to the lanthanoids and has historically been classified as a rare earth element. Yttrium is almost always found combined with the lanthanoids in rare earth minerals and is...
(Y),
ytterbiumYtterbium is a chemical element with the symbol Yb and atomic number 70. A soft silvery metallic element, ytterbium is a rare earth of the lanthanide series and is found in the minerals gadolinite, monazite, and xenotime. The element is sometimes associated with yttrium or other related elements...
(Yb),
terbiumTerbium is a chemical element with the symbol Tb and atomic number 65. It is a silvery-white rare earth metal that is malleable, ductile and soft enough to be cut with a knife...
(Tb) and
erbiumErbium is a chemical element with the symbol Er and atomic number 68. A rare, silvery, white metallic lanthanide, erbium is solid in its normal state...
(Er).
Four other elements also trace their origin to the Ytterby quarry:
gadoliniumGadolinium is a chemical element that has the symbol Gd and atomic number 64. It is a silvery-white, malleable and ductile rare-earth metal. Gadolinium has exceptionally high absorption of neutrons and therefore is used for shielding in neutron radiography and in nuclear reactors...
(Gd) (named after
gadoliniteGadolinite is a mineral of a nearly black color and vitreous luster, and consisting principally of the silicates of cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, yttrium, beryllium, and iron with formula: 2FeBe2Si2O10...
, which is named after Professor
Johan GadolinJohan Gadolin was a Finnish chemist, physicist and mineralogist. Gadolin discovered the chemical element yttrium...
),
holmiumHolmium is a chemical element with the symbol Ho and atomic number 67. Part of the lanthanide series, holmium is a relatively soft and malleable silvery-white metallic element, which is stable in dry air at room temperature. A rare earth metal, it is found in the minerals monazite and gadolinite...
(Ho) (from the Latin name for
Stockholm' is the capital and largest city of Sweden. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the Riksdag , and the official residence of the Swedish Monarch as well as the prime minister. The Monarch resides at Drottningholm Palace outside of Stockholm since 1980 and uses the Royal Palace of...
),
scandiumScandium is a chemical element with symbol Sc and atomic number 21. A silvery-white metallic transition metal, it has historically been sometimes classified as a rare earth element, together with yttrium and the lanthanides...
(Sc) and
thuliumThulium is a chemical element that has the symbol Tm and atomic number 69. Thulium is the least abundant of the lanthanides . It is an easily workable metal with a bright silvery-gray luster...
(Tm) (Thule is an old Latin word for the
Nordic countriesThe Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories which include the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...
).
In 1989 the ASM International society installed a plaque at the former entrance to the mine, commemorating the mine as an
historical landmark.