Transition metal · element 39
Yttrium
Named after a Swedish village. Used in lasers.
Only 0.2% of people are Yttrium. (estimated)
If you're Yttrium
You come from somewhere small and end up in something powerful. Steady, unshowy, and secretly at the centre of the most precise things people build.
Four elements are named after the same Swedish village, Ytterby, and yttrium was the first.
How to get along with Yttrium
Do
- Give them a precise job with high stakes.
- Notice where they came from and how far they went.
- Keep the praise specific.
Don't
- Don't lump them in with the rare earths as one thing.
- Don't waste their precision on vague work.
When it goes wrong: They don't fail loudly. The laser just goes out of focus, and only they know why.
Atomic profile
Every element is placed on six personality dimensions derived from its chemistry. Your answers are placed on the same six, and the closest element wins. How the scoring works
- Reactivity
- 6
- Sociability
- 5
- Stability
- 9
- Energy
- 6
- Rarity
- 5
- Warmth
- 5
Yttrium in literature
- Margaret Hale — North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell (1855)
- Adam Bede — Adam Bede, George Eliot (1859)
- Alexandra Bergson — O Pioneers!, Willa Cather (1913)
Characters from public-domain works, chosen for the same traits. Company, not a verdict.
Closest personalities
The elements whose profiles sit nearest to Yttrium's. If you got Yttrium, one of these was probably your runner-up.
Other transition metals
ScScandiumTiTitaniumVVanadiumCrChromiumMnManganeseFeIronCoCobaltNiNickelCuCopperZnZincZrZirconiumNbNiobiumMoMolybdenumTcTechnetiumRuRutheniumRhRhodiumPdPalladiumAgSilverCdCadmiumHfHafniumTaTantalumWTungstenReRheniumOsOsmiumIrIridiumPtPlatinumAuGoldHgMercuryRfRutherfordiumDbDubniumSgSeaborgiumBhBohriumHsHassiumMtMeitneriumDsDarmstadtiumRgRoentgeniumCnCopernicium