// MATTER · ELEMENT 60 / 118atoms.no/elements
Nd60
Neodymium
Nd·Z 60·Lanthanide·144.2·⭕ 10A · B Minor
▸ The reading
interpretive · artThere is a thumbnail of neodymium in nearly every earbud you have owned — Nd-Fe-B is the strongest commercial magnet alloy, and it also swings direct-drive wind turbines. Split from didymium as praseodymium's 'new twin'. The grip inside small things and enormous ones, from the same seat.
The science below is cited as science; the symbolic layers are flagged as interactive art.
⚜ Periodic Frequency
10AB Minor
a seat struck in brass — testimony, not prediction
the seat has its own room on ⭕ THE OVAL TABLE — tap the code
▸ The lenses
▸ Discovery
Carl Auer von Welsbach — the second half of the 'didymium' split · Austria · 1885
▸ Stellar origin
s-process in AGB starsSlow neutron capture builds the seven stable isotopes of neodymium across the second s-process peak.
▸ Reactivity
Creates the strongest commercial permanent magnets (Nd-Fe-B)Neodymium magnets power everything from earbuds to MRI machines to wind turbines. The rare-earth element that built modern miniaturization.
▸ Applications
- Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets (strongest commercial)
- Wind-turbine direct-drive generators
- Hard-drive read/write heads
- Glassmaking (purple-tinted glass)
▸ Curiosity
Nearly every pair of in-ear headphones contains a thumbnail's worth of neodymium magnets — the world's strongest commercial magnet alloys are Nd-Fe-B.
▸ Related readings
a resonance drawn between readings — not a claim that they share an origin.
Lanthanide seriesPrPraseodymiumPmPromethium
f-blockPrPraseodymiumPmPromethium
Adjacent ZPrPraseodymiumPmPromethium