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Samarium

Element 62 · Lanthanide

Specimen

Atomic number
62
Atomic mass
150.4
State at room temperature
Solid
Melting point
1,074 °C
Boiling point
1,794 °C
Density
7.52 g/cm³
Discovered
1879

Physical data from PubChem.1

Can I eat it?

In food and water
Not needed, little harm known. Samarium has no known function in the body. In a rat study, doses of samarium chloride up to 2 g per kg of body weight killed no animals. The RSC lists samarium as low in toxicity. There are few studies of it in food. 23

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The atom

Sm
ShellElectrons
1 (K) 2
2 (L) 8
3 (M) 18
4 (N) 24
5 (O) 8
6 (P) outermost 2
Total62

Configuration [Xe] 4f⁶ 6s²

4f ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑
6s ↑ ↓
A shell diagram: each ring is an electron shell and each dot is one electron. The nucleus holds 62 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 Eu Europium Gd Gadolinium Tb Terbium Dy Dysprosium Ho Holmium Er Erbium Tm Thulium Yb Ytterbium Lu Lutetium

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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

    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).

    • For gadolinium and samarium, oral doses up to 2 g/kg were without lethality.
  3. 3

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

    • Samarium has no known biological role. It has low toxicity.