Editing Group 5 element (section)

=== Niobium and tantalum ===

[[File:Charles Hatchett. Soft-ground etching by F. C. Lewis after T Wellcome V0002614 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Charles Hatchett, the discover of niobium]]

Niobium was [[Discovery of the chemical elements|identified]] by English chemist [[Charles Hatchett]] in 1801.<ref name="Hatchett_1802a">{{cite journal|last=Hatchett|first=Charles|author-link=Charles Hatchett|year=1802|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c-Q_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA49|title=An analysis of a mineral substance from North America, containing a metal hitherto unknown|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London|volume=92|pages=49–66|jstor=107114|doi=10.1098/rspl.1800.0045|doi-access=free|access-date=15 July 2016|archive-date=3 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503233004/https://books.google.com/books?id=c-Q_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA49|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="Hatchett_1802b">{{Citation |last=Hatchett |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Hatchett |year=1802 |title=Outline of the Properties and Habitudes of the Metallic Substance, lately discovered by Charles Hatchett, Esq. and by him denominated Columbium |journal=[[Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and the Arts]] |volume=I (January) |pages=32–34 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ylZwOmyBA7IC&pg=PA32 |postscript=. |access-date=13 July 2017 |archive-date=24 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224164852/https://books.google.com/books?id=ylZwOmyBA7IC&pg=PA32 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Hatchett_1802c">{{cite journal |last=Hatchett |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Hatchett |year=1802 |title=Eigenschaften und chemisches Verhalten des von Charles Hatchett entdeckten neuen Metalls, Columbium |trans-title=Properties and chemical behavior of the new metal, columbium, (that was) discovered by Charles Hatchett |language=de |journal=[[Annalen der Physik]] |volume=11 |issue=5 |pages=120–122 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wSYwAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA120 |doi=10.1002/andp.18020110507 |bibcode=1802AnP....11..120H |access-date=15 July 2016 |archive-date=9 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160509100435/https://books.google.com/books?id=wSYwAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA120 |url-status=live }}</ref> He found a new element in a mineral sample that had been sent to England from [[Connecticut]], United States in 1734 by John Winthrop F.R.S. (grandson of [[John Winthrop the Younger]]) and named the mineral ''columbite'' and the new element ''columbium'' after ''[[Columbia (name)|Columbia]]'',<ref>{{cite journal|title = Reaction of Tantalum, Columbium and Vanadium with Iodine|first = F.|last = Kòrösy|journal = Journal of the American Chemical Society|date = 1939|volume = 61|issue = 4|pages = 838–843|doi = 10.1021/ja01873a018}}</ref> the poetic name for the United States.<ref name="Noyes" /><ref name="1853 Mining Journal">{{cite journal|last=Percival|first=James|title=Middletown Silver and Lead Mines|journal=Journal of Silver and Lead Mining Operations|date=January 1853|volume=1|page=186|url=https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=MFILAAAAYAAJ&rdid=book-MFILAAAAYAAJ&rdot=1|access-date=24 April 2013|archive-date=3 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603002528/https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=MFILAAAAYAAJ&rdid=book-MFILAAAAYAAJ&rdot=1|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title = Charles Hatchett FRS (1765–1847), Chemist and Discoverer of Niobium|first = William P.|last = Griffith|author2=Morris, Peter J. T. |journal = Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London|volume = 57|issue = 3|pages = 299–316|date = 2003|jstor = 3557720|doi = 10.1098/rsnr.2003.0216|s2cid = 144857368}}</ref> However, after the 15th Conference of the Union of Chemistry in Amsterdam in 1949, the name niobium was chosen for element 41.<ref name="Contro">{{cite journal |first = Geoff|last = Rayner-Canham|author2=Zheng, Zheng |title = Naming elements after scientists: an account of a controversy|journal = Foundations of Chemistry|volume = 10|issue = 1|date = 2008|doi = 10.1007/s10698-007-9042-1|pages = 13–18|s2cid = 96082444}}</ref> The ''columbium'' discovered by Hatchett was probably a mixture of the new element with tantalum, which was first discovered in 1802 by [[Anders Gustav Ekeberg]].<ref name="Noyes">{{cite book| last = Noyes| first = William Albert| title = A Textbook of Chemistry| publisher = H. Holt & Co.| page = 523| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UupHAAAAIAAJ&q=columbium+discovered+by+Hatchett+was+a+mixture+of+two+elements&pg=PA523| date = 1918| access-date = 2 November 2020| archive-date = 2 June 2022| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220602091834/https://books.google.com/books?id=UupHAAAAIAAJ&q=columbium+discovered+by+Hatchett+was+a+mixture+of+two+elements&pg=PA523| url-status = live}}</ref>

[[File:Anders Gustaf Ekeberg.jpg|thumb|right|Anders Gustav Ekeberg, the discoverer of tantalum]]

Subsequently, there was considerable confusion<ref name="Wolla">{{cite journal|title = On the Identity of Columbium and Tantalum|pages = 246–252|journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society|first = William Hyde|last = Wollaston|author-link = William Hyde Wollaston|doi = 10.1098/rstl.1809.0017| jstor = 107264|volume = 99|date = 1809|s2cid = 110567235}}</ref> over the difference between columbium (niobium) and the closely related tantalum. In 1809, English chemist [[William Hyde Wollaston]] compared the oxides derived from both columbium—columbite, with a density 5.918&nbsp;g/cm{{sup|3}}, and tantalum—[[tantalite]], with a density over 8&nbsp;g/cm{{sup|3}}, and concluded that the two oxides, despite the significant difference in density, were identical; thus he kept the name tantalum.<ref name="Wolla" /> This conclusion was disputed in 1846 by German chemist [[Heinrich Rose]], who argued that there were two different elements in the tantalite sample, and named them after children of [[Tantalus]]: ''niobium'' (from [[Niobe]]) and ''[[pelopium]]'' (from [[Pelops]]).<ref name="Pelop">{{cite journal|title = Ueber die Zusammensetzung der Tantalite und ein im Tantalite von Baiern enthaltenes neues Metall|pages = 317–341|journal = Annalen der Physik|author-link = Heinrich Rose|language = de|first = Heinrich|last = Rose|doi = 10.1002/andp.18441391006|url = http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k15148n/f327.table|volume = 139|issue = 10|date = 1844|bibcode = 1844AnP...139..317R|access-date = 31 August 2008|archive-date = 20 June 2013|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130620093605/http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k15148n/f327.table|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title = Ueber die Säure im Columbit von Nordamérika|language = de|pages = 572–577|first = Heinrich|last = Rose|journal = Annalen der Physik|doi = 10.1002/andp.18471460410|url = http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k15155x/f586.table|date = 1847|volume = 146|issue = 4|author-link = Heinrich Rose|bibcode = 1847AnP...146..572R|access-date = 31 August 2008|archive-date = 11 May 2014|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140511114909/http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k15155x/f586.table|url-status = live}}</ref> This confusion arose from the minimal observed differences between tantalum and niobium. The claimed new elements ''pelopium'', ''[[ilmenium]]'', and ''dianium''<ref name="Dianium">{{cite journal|title = Ueber eine eigenthümliche Säure, Diansäure, in der Gruppe der Tantal- und Niob- verbindungen|first = V.|last = Kobell|journal = Journal für Praktische Chemie|volume = 79|issue = 1|pages = 291–303|doi = 10.1002/prac.18600790145|date = 1860|url = https://zenodo.org/record/1427822|access-date = 5 October 2019|archive-date = 5 October 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191005220552/https://zenodo.org/record/1427822|url-status = live}}</ref> were in fact identical to niobium or mixtures of niobium and tantalum.<ref name="Ilmen">{{cite journal|title = Tantalsäure, Niobsäure, (Ilmensäure) und Titansäure|journal = Fresenius' Journal of Analytical Chemistry|volume = 5|issue = 1|date = 1866|doi = 10.1007/BF01302537|pages = 384–389|author= Marignac, Blomstrand|author2= Deville, H. |author3= Troost, L. |author4= Hermann, R. |s2cid = 97246260}}</ref> Pure tantalum was not produced until 1903.<ref name = "Emsley"/>