|
Welsbach, Carl Auer, Baron von Welsbach (1858–1929)| Austrian chemist and engineer who discovered two rare-earth elements and invented the incandescent gas mantle and a lighter flint. |
| Auer was born in Vienna and studied in Germany at Heidelberg. |
| He showed that didymium, previously thought to be an element, actually consisted of two very similar but different elements: praseodymium and neodymium. He also found that another rare earth element, cerium, added as its nitrate salt to a cylindrical fabric impregnated with thorium nitrate, produced a fragile mantle that glowed with white incandescence when heated in a gas flame. The ‘Welsbach mantle’ was patented 1885. |
| Most lighter flints consist of Welsbach's invention Mitschmetall, a pyrophoric mixture containing about 50% cerium, 25% lanthanum, 15% neodymium, and 10% other rare metals and iron. When it is struck or scraped, it produces hot metal sparks. Mitschmetall is also used as a deoxidizer in vacuum tubes and as an alloying agent for magnesium. |
How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
?Sign in  |
|---|
|
|
|