It’s amusing to me that the word I’ve chosen to represent the letter Y for my challenge post is one most people have never heard spoken. And yet I use it every day (almost) at work.
Yttrium is an element with only one stable isotope (89). I use it to compare deviation with other elements because it will ordinarily remain at a stable level in the solutions I’m measuring even if the amounts of the element I’m measuring varies widely. If it deviates outside my set parameters, that means I have an interference of some sort that needs to be addressed. I do not use it, however, if I’m measuring a digested soil sample because yttrium is naturally present in soils and that would throw off my comparisons.
So that sums up my lesson of ‘stuff most people will never need to know’. If, by chance, you are interested in knowing more about yttrium, here’s a link to the wiki page 
Is there something you do at work that entails arcane knowledge? It’s one of the things about my job that I like.
Later today I’ll try to get my flash friday story posted, but it might not happen this week.
