Everything Matters | Vanadium | Ron Hipschman

Come be in your elements with Exploratorium host and scientific raconteur Ron Hipschman. Follow tales of intrigue and invention, join in dynamic demonstrations, and uncover fascinating connections between individual elements and our collective human experience.

Vanadium, a transition metal prized for tough steel alloys, is present in the human body in minute amounts; its compounds are considered toxic. The few species known to accumulate vanadium include varieties of marine algae, red-capped fly agaric (amanita muscaria) mushrooms, and sea squirts. Our closest invertebrate relatives, sea squirts are masters of molecular recognition and chemical concentration.

Vanadium is a transition metal of many colors and was discovered by Andrés Manuel del Río in 1801, who named it panchromium for its colored salts, then erythronium (fr. Greek erythros), as the salts turned red with heat. Del Río later dropped his claim, persuaded he had found impure chromium instead. In 1831, Nils Gabriel Serfström independently identified the element, and del Río’s claim was restored. Serfström’s name remained, inspired by Vanadis (Freyja), the Norse goddess of beauty, love, and war.

Vanadium’s compounds appear lavender, green, blue, or yellow, depending on its oxidation state. It forms a golden pigment for ceramic glazes, tints glass green or blue, and helps give emeralds their distinctive hue. Beneath the waves, filter-feeding sea squirts concentrate vanadium in green blood cells. The metal itself is silvery and strong: vanadium steel alloys are prized for heat- and shock-resistant tools, engine parts, armor plating, and structural steel.