Neodymium Oxide: Rare Earths Separated into Coloured Bands on a Bleached Resin Column (Jaffe, US 2,897,050)

The rare earths are so alike that separating them took endless analyses. Jaffe bleached the dark exchange resin with peroxide so the elements show as coloured bands as they wash down the column: neodymium is the violet one, and you simply collect it by eye. Result: neodymium oxide, a pale blue powder; 2.48 g from 15 g of monazite oxides in Jaffe's example. Source: Jaffe, US 2,897,050 (Air Reduction, 1959). Not given: purity of the neodymium fraction. Picture drawn by Youblob.