The Periodic Table of Scarcity and Abundance
Menu

Dysprosium

Element 66 · Lanthanide

Specimen

Atomic number
66
Atomic mass
162.5
State at room temperature
Solid
Melting point
1,412 °C
Boiling point
2,567 °C
Density
8.55 g/cm³
Discovered
1886

Physical data from PubChem.1

Can I eat it?

In food and water
Not needed, little harm known. Dysprosium has no known function in the body, and the RSC lists it as low in toxicity. In rats, half died only at 7.65 g of dysprosium chloride per kg of body weight. There are few studies of it in food. 23

See every element.

The atom

Dy
ShellElectrons
1 (K) 2
2 (L) 8
3 (M) 18
4 (N) 28
5 (O) 8
6 (P) outermost 2
Total66

Configuration [Xe] 4f¹⁰ 6s²

4f ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑
6s ↑ ↓
A shell diagram: each ring is an electron shell and each dot is one electron. The nucleus holds 66 protons. The outermost shell is shown in red. Electrons do not travel on rings: they fill orbitals, regions where an electron is likely to be found. The boxes are those orbitals for the electrons outside the Xe core, with one arrow per electron.

Related elements

Lanthanides
La Lanthanum Ce Cerium Pr Praseodymium Nd Neodymium Pm Promethium Sm Samarium Eu Europium Gd Gadolinium Tb Terbium Ho Holmium Er Erbium Tm Thulium Yb Ytterbium Lu Lutetium

New elements by e-mail

Sources

  1. 1

    National Center for Biotechnology Information (PubChem), 2026. Periodic Table of Elements .

    Atomic mass, electron configuration, melting and boiling points, density and discovery year for all 118 elements.

  2. 2

    Royal Society of Chemistry, 2026. Dysprosium - Element information, properties and uses .

    • Dysprosium has no known biological role. It has low toxicity.
  3. 3

    Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA), for the US Bureau of Land Management, 1999. Development of Reference Doses and Reference Concentrations for Lanthanides , Section 2.4 (oral toxicity data in experimental animals).

    • 7650 mg/kg for dysprosium chloride