Why Can't Neodymium Be More like Tin? (IMAGE)

Joint Quantum Institute

Why Can't Neodymium Be More like Tin?

Caption

The best highly charged ions seem to be atoms such as Nd, Pr, and Sm that can be ionized to have the same number of electrons as four successive elements -- Ag, Cd, In, and Sn -- in another part of the periodic table.

Credit

Adapted from Los Alamos figure

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