Discovered by A. M. del Rio at Mexico City; rediscovered in 1831 by N. G. Selfstrom at Falun, Sweden.
Remarks
Shiny, silvery metal, soft when pure. Resists corrosion due to protective oxide film. Attacked by concentrated acids but not by fused alkalis. Used mainly as alloys and in steel.
Diagnostic tests:
Vanadium is usually detected by the color it imparts to the fluxes.
With a borax bead
test in the oxidizing flame, the bead is
yellow when hot, changing to a yellowish green to almost colorless when
cold. In a Na2(NH4)(PO4) bead
under oxidizing conditions, vanadium is yellow to deep amber (hot)
yielding slightly less color on cooling. In the reducing flame, it becomes
a dirty green color (hot) and a fine green color when cold.
References
Emsley, J., 1991; THE ELEMENTS : Sec. Ed.,
Clarendon Press, Oxford, 251 p.
(* - Mineral Name Is Not IMA Approved)
(! - New Dana classification added or changed from Danas New Mineralogy)
(? - IMA Discredited Mineral Species Name)
There are 216 minerals with V in the Mineralogy Database.