Chemical element · Atomic number 58
Cerium
Cerium in the periodic table: atomic number 58, electron configuration, atomic mass, physical data, oxidation states, media credit and visible sources.
Lanthanide
solid
140.116 u
Documented element sampleAbout 1.5 grams of ultrapure cerium, kept under argon.
Image credit: Jurii
Auto-oriented, limited to 1600 × 1200 pixels and re-encoded as WebP; the subject was not altered.
Atomic classification
Shell occupancy
Cerium in the Bohr shell model
This shows the electron distribution of the neutral atom in a simplified shell model.
- K · n=1
- 2 electrons
- L · n=2
- 8 electrons
- M · n=3
- 18 electrons
- N · n=4
- 19 electrons
- O · n=5
- 9 electrons
- P · n=6
- 2 electrons
- Electron configuration
- [Xe]6s2 4f1 5d1
- Electrons per shell
- 2 · 8 · 18 · 19 · 9 · 2
- Group
- not reported
- Period
- 6
- Block
- F
- Element category
- Lanthanide
Physical and chemical properties
- Atomic mass
- 140.116 u
- Standard state
- solid
- Density
- 6.77 g/cm³
- Melting point
- 1,071 K
- Boiling point
- 3,697 K
- Electronegativity
- 1.12 (Pauling)
- First ionisation energy
- 5.539 eV
- Oxidation states
- +4, +3
- Discovery
- 1803
Safety and periodic classification
Safety
Safe handling cannot be inferred from Cerium's position in the periodic table alone. Laboratory, classroom and disposal decisions must follow the documentation for the exact material and its safety data sheet.
Position and comparison
Cerium is in period 6 and the F block. Its direct neighbours by atomic number are Lanthanum and Praseodymium. The recorded Pauling electronegativity is 1.12. Periodic trends are compared only through the separately sourced neighbouring values.
Sources and scope
PubChem attributes element data to sources including IUPAC, NIST and IAEA. Quanta stores the referenced snapshot locally and leaves unknown values unavailable.
Where Cerium sits among the 118 elements
The table compares the reported values for Cerium with every other element that carries the same value in the snapshot. A rank is not a judgement, it is orientation: it says how unusual this value is across the periodic table.
| Value | Cerium | Position in the data set |
|---|---|---|
| Melting point | 1,071 K | Rank 61 of 103 elements with a reported value. Highest: Carbon. |
| Boiling point | 3,697 K | Rank 21 of 93 elements with a reported value. Highest: Rhenium. |
| Density | 6.77 g/cm³ | Rank 52 of 96 elements with a reported value. Highest: Osmium. |
| Electronegativity (Pauling) | 1.12 | Rank 83 of 95 elements with a reported value. Highest: Fluorine. |
| Ionisation energy | 5.539 eV | Rank 90 of 102 elements with a reported value. Highest: Helium. |
All values and ranks come from the PubChem Periodic Table snapshot, retrieved on 2026-07-15. Elements without a reported value are excluded, so the population differs per row.
The neighbours of Cerium in the periodic table
- Place in the table
- No group number, period 6, F block. Classified as lanthanide, solid at standard conditions.
- Direct neighbours
- Atomic number 58. Preceded by Lanthanum, followed by Praseodymium.
- Discovery
- Recorded in the snapshot as: 1803. Who, where and under what circumstances is not part of that record, so this page carries the sourced year and no discovery narrative.
- Oxidation states
- +4, +3. They follow from the electron configuration [Xe]6s2 4f1 5d1 and indicate which compounds to expect.
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