holmia Chem.
(ˈhəʊlmɪə)
[mod.L., f. next after erbia, the oxide of erbium, ceria, the oxide of cerium, etc.; the oxide of holmium was not specifically named by either Cleve or Soret in their papers of 1879.]
The sesquioxide of holmium, Ho2O3, a pale yellow basic compound.
The substance obtained by Cleve was later shown (by de Boisbaudran, 1886) to be a mixture of the oxides of holmium and of a new element, dysprosium.
| 1880 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. XXXVIII. 7 The author [sc. J. L. Soret] considers that the new earth, holmia, discovered by Clève, is identical with an earth..to which Delafontaine gave the name philippia. 1886 [see fractional a. b]. 1924 J. W. Mellor Inorg. & Theoret. Chem. V. xxxviii. 697 The fractional crystallization of the ethyl sulphates enables holmia to be separated from erbia, thulia, etc., and to be partially separated from dysprosia. 1968 C. A. Hampel Encycl. Chem. Elem. 268/2 Holmia was not isolated into a reasonably pure compound until 1911. |