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Yttrium

Element 39 · Transition metal

Specimen

Atomic number
39
Atomic mass
88.9058
State at room temperature
Solid
Melting point
1,522 °C
Boiling point
3,345 °C
Density
4.47 g/cm³
Discovered
1794

Physical data from PubChem.1

Can I eat it?

In food and water
Not needed, little harm known. Yttrium has no known function in the body. The RSC calls its soluble salts mildly toxic. In a 28-day rat study, the lowest daily dose with an effect was 58.6 mg per kg of body weight. There are few studies of yttrium in food. 23

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The atom

Y
ShellElectrons
1 (K) 2
2 (L) 8
3 (M) 18
4 (N) 9
5 (O) outermost 2
Total39

Configuration [Kr] 4d¹ 5s²

4d ↑
5s ↑ ↓
A shell diagram: each ring is an electron shell and each dot is one electron. The nucleus holds 39 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 Kr core, with one arrow per electron.

Related elements

Group 3
Sc Scandium Lu Lutetium Lr Lawrencium

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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

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

    • Yttrium has no known biological role. Its soluble salts are mildly toxic.
  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).

    • the LOAEL in this study was judged to be 58.6 mg Y/kg-day