Where Do You Find Samarium

Samarium is the fifth most abundant of the rare elements and is almost four times as common as tin. It is never found free in nature, but in contained in many minerals, including monazite, bastnasite and samarskite. Samarium containing ores are found in USA, China, Brazil, India, Australia and Sri Lanka.

When and where was samarium found?

Samarium is a rare earth element that – indirectly – has the distinction of being the first naturally occurring chemical element to be named after a living person. Samarium was isolated from the mineral Samarskite which was discovered near the small town of Miass in the southern Ural mountains in 1847.

Is samarium found in the human body?

Tiny amounts of samarium are found in the human body – about 50 mg – but it has no biological role. That hasn’t stopped it being used in medical treatment, however. The isotope samarium-153 is a beta-emitter with a half-life of two days.