Niobium, also known in the past as columbium because it was discovered together with tantalum in the mineral columbite, is the chemical element with atomic number 41 and its symbol is Nb. It is a rare, typically ductile transition metal.

Niobium is a lustrous gray ductile metal that takes on a bluish tinge when exposed to air at room temperature for prolonged times.

Niobium was discovered by Charles Hatchett in 1801, who called it columbio. For a long time it was difficult to distinguish it from tantalum. After about a century of name controversy, in 1950 the IUPAC decided to officially adopt the name niobium. The use of the old name is however occasionally used in the US metal industry even today.

Brazil and Canada are the main producers of niobium ores; other sites with substantial reserves of niobium minerals are in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Russia.

Niobium has multiple applications: it is a component of some stainless steels and non-ferrous metal alloys; many of these alloys are characterized by high strength and are used in the construction of ducts.

Niobium becomes a superconductor when cooled below its critical temperature, 9.25 K, which is the highest among elementary superconductors.

Niobium-tin and niobium-titanium alloys are used to produce the windings of superconducting magnets capable of producing very high intensity magnetic fields. Very high purity niobium is used in the construction of superconducting resonant cavities for particle accelerators.

The giveaway

After the 4 maxy giveaways that have characterized the latest distributions of NFT, we return to a classic mode, but don't worry, we are already thinking about something new.

This item has a max supply of 200 pieces. 100 NFTs are dedicated to this giveaway:

• 30 NFTs will be assigned to the fastest to comment on this article with their own WAX address.
• 70 NFTs will be assigned with a draw among all the other users who will comment on the article by March 31 at 16:00 CEST

The Periodic Table NFT project

The Periodic Table NFT project aims to raise awareness of chemical elements in a modern key, basing the approach on blockchain and Non Fungible Token.
Day after day it will be possible to know the single elements that make up the table, to collect curiosities about each of them and about the table in general.
We are working to be able to learn, in a playful way, also what happens by combining the various elements.
The whole project is based on the collection of NFTs that can be bought on the site https://wax.atomichub.io/market?collection_name=periodicelem&order=desc&sort=created&symbol=WAX or by participating in simple giveaways published on publish0x.

Elements released

• The first 30 elements
• #31 Gallium (max supply 200)
• #32 Germanium (max supply 149)
• #33 Arsenic (max supply 200)
• #34 Selenium (max supply 99)
• #35 Bromine (max supply 200)
• #36 Krypton (max supply 200)
• #37 Rubidium (max supply 249)
• #38 Strontium (max supply 200)
• #39 Yttrium (max supply 149)
• #40 Zirconium (max supply 99)
• #41 Niobium (max supply 200)

Molecule released

• H2O - Water (max supply 37)
• NaCl - Salt (max supply 64)
• CaC2 - Calcium carbide (max supply 46)
• KMnO4 - Potassium permanganate (max supply 57)
• HCN - Hydrogen cyanide (max supply 59)
• CH2N2 - Diazomethane (max supply 46)
• LiCoO2 - Lithium cobalt oxide (max supply 53)
• LiBH4 - Lithium borohydride (max supply 51)

Celebrity released

• Lavoisier (max supply 149)
• Glauber (max supply 149)
• Marggraf (max supply 149)
• Curie (max supply 149)

Link to save

• Market on atomichub for the purchase of NFTs
• Blog on publish0x to be updated
• Telegram channel
• Discord: in the "all-projects" channel

(Photo by Bernard Hermant on Unsplash)