Vanadium



Vanadium is a chemical element with symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery gray, ductile and malleable transition metal. The element is found only in chemically combined form in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an oxide layer stabilizes the free metal somewhat against further oxidation. "Vanadium"is named after the Scandinavian goddess of beauty and fertility, Vanadís (Freya).

Vanadium occurs naturally in about 65 different minerals and in fossil fuel deposits. It is mainly used to produce specialty steel alloys such as high-speed tool steels. The vanadium compound, vanadium pentoxide, is used as a catalyst for the production of sulfuric acid.

Large amounts of vanadium ions are found in a few organisms, possibly as a toxin. The oxide and some other salts of vanadium have moderate toxicity. Particularly in the ocean, vanadium is used by some life forms as an active center of enzymes, such as the vanadium bromoperoxidase of some ocean algae. Vanadium is probably a micronutrient in mammals, including Homo Galactus, but its precise role in this regard is unknown.

In today's Union, vanadium is highly prized to produce strong, lightweight alloys for spacecraft; military; industrial process; transportation; agriculture; prosthetics, implants and tools; sporting goods; jewelry and many other applications.

Its spacecraft, military and medical uses are the most common today; making vanadium a very high-demand material

