ElementsWhat is yttrium?
Yttrium is a silvery metal usually grouped with the rare earth elements, because it is found in the same minerals.
What is yttrium used for?
White LEDs and screen phosphors, lasers, strong ceramics, and some superconductors.
Where the name comes from
From Ytterby, a village in Sweden. Four elements are named after this one village.
Key facts
- Symbol
- Y
- Atomic number
- 39
- Atomic mass
- 88.90584 u
- Family
- Transition metal
- Period
- 5
- Group
- 3
- Block
- d
- State at room temperature
- Solid
- Melting point
- 1,522 °C (1,795 K, 2,771 °F)
- Boiling point
- 3,345 °C (3,618 K, 6,053 °F)
- Density
- 4.47 g/cm³
- Electrons per shell
- 2, 8, 18, 9, 2
- Electron configuration
- [Kr]5s2 4d1
- Common oxidation states
- +3
- Electronegativity (Pauling)
- 1.22
- First ionisation energy
- 6.217 eV
- Electron affinity
- 0.307 eV
- Atomic radius (van der Waals)
- 219 pm
- Discovered
- 1794
Place in the periodic table
Yttrium is element number 39. It sits in period 5 (row 5) of the periodic table, in group 3 (column 3), and belongs to the d-block. Just before it comes strontium (38), and just after it comes zirconium (40). In the same column, scandium is above it. Elements in one column tend to behave alike.
Family: Transition metals.
Physical properties
At room temperature yttrium is a solid. It melts at 1,522 °C and boils at 3,345 °C, so it stays liquid over a range of 1,823 degrees. Its density is 4.47 grams per cubic centimetre, so a one-litre block would weigh about 4.47 kilograms. By density it ranks 67th among the 96 elements with a measured value.
Inside the atom
An atom of yttrium has 39 protons in its nucleus and, when neutral, 39 electrons around it. The electrons are arranged in 5 shells: 2, 8, 18, 9, 2. The outermost shell holds 2 electrons. Written in full, the electron configuration is [Kr]5s2 4d1.
Its electronegativity on the Pauling scale is 1.22. This number shows how strongly an atom pulls shared electrons towards itself: fluorine, the strongest, is 3.98. Removing one electron from an atom takes 6.217 electronvolts (about 600 kilojoules per mole). One mole of yttrium weighs 88.90584 grams, so a single gram contains about 6.77 × 1021 atoms.
The ring picture is a simple model that only counts the electrons in each shell. Real atoms do not look like this.
Next steps
- Work out the weight of a compound that contains yttrium with the molar mass calculator.
- Compare it with every other element in the sortable list.
- Test yourself with the symbol quiz.
Figures on this page are from PubChem (U.S. National Library of Medicine), as downloaded on 11 November 2026. See About and data sources.