Uses
One use of lanthanum is in lighting. It is used in combination with other rare-earth metals in carbon lighting applications. This is used mostly by Hollywood and the movie picture industry for projection and lighting. This particular application of this element takes up nearly 25% of all the rare-earth compounds produced today.
Lately, there has been a new interest in hydrogen sponge alloys that contain lanthanum. These particular alloys have the ability to take up to 400 times their own volume of hydrogen gas. Whenever they take in the hydrogen gas, heat energy is released from them. This process is also easily reversed. Because of this, they are readily being used in an energy conservation system.
Lanthanum can be found in Misch metal, in fact, it makes up almost 25% of it. Misch metal is the primary material that is used to make flints for lighters.
