Chemical element · Atomic number 21
Scandium
Scandium in the periodic table: atomic number 21, electron configuration, atomic mass, physical data, oxidation states, media credit and visible sources.
Transition metal
solid
44.95591 u
Documented element sampleA piece of scandium metal; the surface has tarnished in air.
Image credit: Keresluna
Auto-oriented, limited to 1600 × 1200 pixels and re-encoded as WebP; the subject was not altered.
Atomic classification
Shell occupancy
Scandium 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
- 9 electrons
- N · n=4
- 2 electrons
- Electron configuration
- [Ar]4s2 3d1
- Electrons per shell
- 2 · 8 · 9 · 2
- Group
- 3
- Period
- 4
- Block
- D
- Element category
- Transition metal
Physical and chemical properties
- Atomic mass
- 44.95591 u
- Standard state
- solid
- Density
- 2.99 g/cm³
- Melting point
- 1,814 K
- Boiling point
- 3,109 K
- Electronegativity
- 1.36 (Pauling)
- First ionisation energy
- 6.561 eV
- Oxidation states
- +3
- Discovery
- 1879
Safety and periodic classification
Safety
Safe handling cannot be inferred from Scandium'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
Scandium is in period 4, group 3 and the D block. Its direct neighbours by atomic number are Calcium and Titanium. The recorded Pauling electronegativity is 1.36. 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 Scandium sits among the 118 elements
The table compares the reported values for Scandium 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 | Scandium | Position in the data set |
|---|---|---|
| Melting point | 1,814 K | Rank 25 of 103 elements with a reported value. Highest: Carbon. |
| Boiling point | 3,109 K | Rank 40 of 93 elements with a reported value. Highest: Rhenium. |
| Density | 2.99 g/cm³ | Rank 70 of 96 elements with a reported value. Highest: Osmium. |
| Electronegativity (Pauling) | 1.36 | Rank 57 of 95 elements with a reported value. Highest: Fluorine. |
| Ionisation energy | 6.561 eV | Rank 60 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 Scandium in the periodic table
- Place in the table
- Group 3, period 4, D block. Classified as transition metal, solid at standard conditions.
- Direct neighbours
- Atomic number 21. Preceded by Calcium, followed by Titanium.
- Same group
- Same number of outer electrons, and therefore similar reactivity to Yttrium.
- Discovery
- Recorded in the snapshot as: 1879. 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
- +3. They follow from the electron configuration [Ar]4s2 3d1 and indicate which compounds to expect.
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