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The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1998
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Epic Interactive Encyclopedia, The - 1998 Edition (1998)(Epic Marketing).iso
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Niobium
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1992-09-01
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569b
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A soft, grey-white, somewhat ductile and
malleable metallic element, symbol Nb, atomic
number 41, atomic weight 92.906. It occurs in
nature with tantalum, which it resembles in
chemical properties. It is used in making
stainless steel and other alloys for jet
engines and rockets and for making
superconductor magnets. It was originally
called Columbium (Cb), a name that is still
used in metallurgy, but it was renamed for
Niobe in 1844 by German chemist H Rose
(1795-1864) because of its similarity to
tantalum (Niobe is the daughter of Tantalus
in Greek mythology).