The elemental metal is rarely found in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an oxide layer (passivation) somewhat stabilizes the free metal against further oxidation. Andrés Manuel del Río discovered compounds of vanadium in 1801 in Mexico by analyzing a new lead-bearing mineral he called "brown lead".
Particularly in the ocean, vanadium is used by some life forms as an active center of enzymes, such as the vanadium bromoperoxidase of some ocean algae. ==History== Vanadium was discovered in 1801 by the Spanish mineralogist Andrés Manuel del Río.
In 1805, French chemist Hippolyte Victor Collet-Descotils, backed by del Río's friend Baron Alexander von Humboldt, incorrectly declared that del Río's new element was an impure sample of chromium.
Then in 1830, Nils Gabriel Sefström generated chlorides of vanadium, thus proving there was a new element, and named it "vanadium" after the Scandinavian goddess of beauty and fertility, Vanadís (Freyja).
Del Río accepted Collet-Descotils' statement and retracted his claim. In 1831 Swedish chemist Nils Gabriel Sefström rediscovered the element in a new oxide he found while working with iron ores.
In 1831, the geologist George William Featherstonhaugh suggested that vanadium should be renamed "rionium" after del Río, but this suggestion was not followed. The isolation of vanadium metal was difficult.
In 1831, Berzelius reported the production of the metal, but Henry Enfield Roscoe showed that Berzelius had produced the nitride, vanadium nitride (VN).
In 1867 Henry Enfield Roscoe obtained the pure element. Vanadium occurs naturally in about 65 minerals and in fossil fuel deposits.
Roscoe eventually produced the metal in 1867 by reduction of vanadium(II) chloride, VCl2, with [name="Roscoe"> In 1927, pure vanadium was produced by reducing vanadium pentoxide with calcium. The first large-scale industrial use of vanadium was in the steel alloy chassis of the Ford Model T, inspired by French race cars.
Eventually, uranium mining began to supply a large share of the demand for vanadium. In 1911, German chemist Martin Henze discovered vanadium in the [proteins found in
Roscoe eventually produced the metal in 1867 by reduction of vanadium(II) chloride, VCl2, with [name="Roscoe"> In 1927, pure vanadium was produced by reducing vanadium pentoxide with calcium. The first large-scale industrial use of vanadium was in the steel alloy chassis of the Ford Model T, inspired by French race cars.
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