Talk:Terbium

Untitled
Article changed over to new WikiProject Elements format by Schnee. Elementbox converted 11:35, 10 July 2005 by Femto (previous revision was that of 13:23, 9 July 2005).

Information Sources
Some of the text in this entry was rewritten from Los Alamos National Laboratory - Terbium. Data for the table was obtained from the sources listed on the subject page and WikiProject Elements but was reformatted and converted into SI units.

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Material Properties
There are contradicting statements in this article concerning the physical properties of Terbium. The opening paragraph claims that Terbium is "very hard" and the physical properties section describes Terbium as "soft enough to be cut with a knife." Perhaps these are differeneces between the oxide and metalic forms. This should be noted if that is the case. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 146.126.51.51 (talk) 14:47, 23 April 2014 (UTC)
 * WebElements says it can be, but I doubt it – it makes the same claim for thulium, which is just about impossible to cut with a normal knife. Maybe it can be scratched with a knife? (Tm can.) I'll change the statement accordingly. Double sharp (talk) 15:07, 23 April 2014 (UTC)

Terbium can be scratched with a knife, but it would take a long time to cut it with a knife. It is very resistant to being damaged. I know this falls under original research guidelines but it is quite strong, at least my piece is. 75.80.123.188 (talk) 01:44, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

Hardness?
The summary claims the the element is 'malleable, ductile, and very hard.' The physical properties section claims that it is 'malleable, ductile, and soft enough to be scratched with a knife.' The hardness indicators (Vickers and Brinell) point to it having a hardness on par with high-grade steel. Can we get some consistency here? I'd fix it myself, but I don't have a reference book handy to double check the data. 173.164.183.245 (talk) 17:42, 29 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Apparently it's hard, but can be scratched with a knife. This is totally not a reliable source, but says that Tb is soft but resists impacts well. That could be an explanation. Annoyingly I haven't found a reliable source on this. Double sharp (talk) 02:10, 28 September 2014 (UTC)