// MATTER · ELEMENT 62 / 118atoms.no/elements
Sm62
Samarium
Sm·Z 62·Lanthanide·150.4·⭕ 3B · D♭ Major
▸ The reading
interpretive · artSamarium-149's appetite for neutrons is so severe that reactors budget for it as 'poison' — its build-up alone can stall a chain reaction. In samarium-cobalt magnets it holds field at temperatures neodymium can't. The seat that eats the storm: absorption as a form of power.
The science below is cited as science; the symbolic layers are flagged as interactive art.
⚜ Periodic Frequency
3BD♭ Major
a seat struck in brass — testimony, not prediction
the seat has its own room on ⭕ THE OVAL TABLE — tap the code
▸ The lenses
▸ Discovery
Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran — identified in samarskite ore · France · 1879
▸ Stellar origin
s-process + r-processMixed origin across its seven stable isotopes. ¹⁴⁹Sm has an enormous neutron absorption cross-section, making it cosmically depleted.
▸ Reactivity
Massive neutron-absorption cross-sectionSamarium-149 absorbs neutrons so greedily that it builds up as a reactor poison during operation, suppressing the chain reaction.
▸ Applications
- Samarium-cobalt permanent magnets (high-temp)
- Nuclear-reactor control rods (Sm absorbs neutrons)
- Catalysts (Sm-I₂ in organic synthesis)
- Cancer radiotherapy (¹⁵³Sm)
▸ Curiosity
Samarium-149 has such a hungry appetite for neutrons that it acts as a 'reactor poison' — its build-up slows nuclear reactors all by itself.
▸ Related readings
a resonance drawn between readings — not a claim that they share an origin.
Lanthanide seriesPmPromethiumEuEuropium
f-blockPmPromethiumEuEuropium
Adjacent ZPmPromethiumEuEuropium