Despite the similarities in the chemical reactivity of elements in the lanthanide series, their abundances in Earth's crust vary by two orders of magnitude. This graph shows the relative abundance as a function of atomic number. How do you explain the sawtooth variation across the series?

Transcribed Image Text:

Nd Pr Sm Gd Dy Eu 3 Lu 2 5658 606264 66 7072 68 Atomic number