The lightest and heaviest metal. The heaviest metal

A group of chemical elements that have the properties of metals are called heavy metals. Their characteristic feature is high atomic weight and high densities.

There are several definitions of this group, but in any interpretation the indispensable indicators are:

• atomic weight (this indicator should be above 50);
• density (it must exceed the density of iron - 8 g/cm3).

In general, with classification of heavy metals important indicators:

• chemical properties;
• physical properties;
• biological activity;
• toxicity.

No less relevant is the factor of presence in the industrial and economic sphere.

The heaviest metal

Scientists are still arguing which metal is the heaviest:

• osmium (atomic mass - 76);
• iridium (atomic mass - 77).

The mass of both metals differs literally by thousandths.

Iridium discovered in 1803 by the Englishman Tennat.

The scientist worked with polymetallic ore, in which the presence of silver, platinum and lead was observed in different proportions.

To the chemist's amazement, iridium was also found there. The English chemist's discovery was unique, since there is practically no iridium in the earth's crust. It is found only if a meteorite has ever fallen in the search area. Scientists are inclined to believe that the small presence of iridium in the earth's crust is due precisely to its mass. There is a scientific opinion that most of the iridium literally “leaked” into the center of the earth’s crust at the time of the birth of the Earth.

The main features of iridium are:

• resistance to any mechanical and chemical stress (iridium practically cannot be processed in any way);
• colossal chemical inertness.

In industry, the iridium isotope is used by paleontologists at excavations to determine which of them are of artificial origin.

Osmium was discovered a year later - in 1804. It was also found in polymetallic ore. This metal is also processed with the greatest difficulty, both chemical and mechanical.

On planet Earth, osmium is found, like iridium, in meteorite impact sites.

However, there are several regions where large deposits osmia:

• Kazakhstan;
• America;
• South Africa (the osmium deposit is especially large here).

In industry, osmium is used in the production of incandescent lamps. In addition, it is used where refractory materials are required. And due to the increased density of osmium, it was adopted by doctors - surgical instruments are made from it.

Heavy metals in soil

The very definition of “severe” is often considered by specialists not in a chemical aspect, but in a medical one. In addition, for ecologists this term is also relevant when determining the degree of danger of a particular object for environmental protection activities.

The presence of heavy metals in the soil depends on the composition of the rock. Rocks, in turn, are formed in the process of development of territories. The chemical composition of the soil is represented by rock weathering products and depends on the conditions of repeated transformation.

In the modern world, anthropogenic human activity largely determines the composition of the soil. Heavy metals are a factor in soil pollution. They are classified as toxicants because they are all toxic to one degree or another.

In the process of human industrial activity, heavy metals are often mixed with:

The task of environmental scientists is to create conditions that prevent the dispersion of toxicants in the biosphere.

Hello friends!

Did you know that initially the periodic table contained a zero group, in which ether stood along with the inert gases? Although that’s not what we’re talking about today.
10 million dollars - this is the amount 1 gram is valued at. The second place in rarity, and therefore in price, is occupied by osmium.

Moreover, he is also the most heavy metal in the world, although some scientists believe that iridium should occupy this position.

To determine which is heavier, you need to compare atomic weights and see which has a higher density. According to these indicators, osmium and iridium, which is inferior to it by fractions of cubic centimeters, are considered the heaviest today. Imagine: an osmium cube with eight-centimeter sides weighs almost 12 kg!

I suggest you look at the photo of the heaviest metal:

And this is iridium:

Handsome, aren't they?

Top 10 heaviest metals in the world

I suggest you familiarize yourself with the elements according to their rating.

Tantalum

Considered a rare and not very heavy metal, it has a density of 16.65 g/cm³. It is used by surgeons - it is practically indestructible and rust-proof, and is easy to process.

Uranus

The density of uranium is 19.07 g/cm³. Its main difference from its counterparts is natural radioactivity. During the transformation process that uranium atoms undergo, the substance turns into another radiating element. The chain of transformations consists of 14 stages, one of them is the transformation into radium, the last stage is the formation of lead. True, it will take more than one billion years for the complete transition of uranium to lead.

Tungsten

Tungsten (19.25 g/cm³) is jokingly called an ideal candidate for counterfeiting gold bars. This is the most refractory material, the melting point is close to the photosphere of the Sun - 3422 °C. Therefore, it is best suited for filaments in incandescent lamps.

Gold

Gold density is 19.3 g/cm³. Soft, viscous, with good thermal and electrical conductivity, it is not afraid of chemical attack. Gold is not only found on the surface of the Earth. 5 times more of it is contained in the planet’s core.

Plutonium

This element is one of the stages of radioactive transformation of uranium. It also exists in the depths of the planet, but in tiny quantities. Its density is 19.7 g/cm³. Due to its radioactivity, plutonium is always warm and is a poor conductor of current and heat.

Neptunium

This is another creation of uranium, obtained through nuclear reactions. Density – 20.25 grams per cubic centimeter. Neptunium is a fairly soft and malleable material that reacts slowly with air and water.

Rhenium

Rhenium is another refractory, malleable, oxidation-resistant element. Melting point – 2000 °C. In total, world reserves of the element are approximately 17,000 tons. Rhenium density is 21.03 g/cm³. It is used in medicine, jewelry, vacuum technology, electronic devices and metallurgy.

Platinum

Platinum, although not the heaviest metal, is quite close to this - 21.45 g/cm³. It is used not only by jewelers, but also by surgeons, investment professionals, the chemical and glass industries, automotive, biomedicine and electronics. , and products made from it are difficult to scratch. This element is found 30 times less frequently than gold.

Osmium

Density 22.6 g/cm³ - the heaviest metal in the world, it is hard, but quite brittle. No matter how much you heat it, it will not lose its shine and gray-bluish tint under any circumstances. It is difficult to process and mainly occurs in meteorite impact areas.

Iridium

The difference between iridium and osmium in density is in hundredths of a gram. Iridium is refractory and is considered rare and precious. Does not interact with acids, air and water. It is used to control welding seams, and in paleontology and geology it is used as an indicator of the layer formed after the fall of a meteorite.

Characteristics of the densest metal

Scientists agreed that, despite almost the same density, iridium is only slightly inferior to the heaviest metal. However, the physicochemical properties of these two elements have not yet been fully studied.

The rarity and labor-intensive nature of extraction determine the cost of osmium - on average, $15,000 per gram. It is included in the platinum group and is conventionally considered noble, but the name of the metal contradicts its status: in Greek “osme” means “smell”. Due to its high chemical activity, osmium smells like a mixture of garlic or radish with chlorine.

The melting point of the heaviest metal is 3033 °C, and it boils at 5012 °C.

Solidifying from the melt, osmium forms beautiful crystals with an interesting blue or silver-blue tint. But, despite its beauty, it is not suitable for making precious accessories, since it does not have the properties necessary for jewelers: malleability and plasticity.

The element is valuable only because of its special strength. Alloys to which very small doses of the heaviest metal are added become incredibly wear-resistant. Usually it is used to cover units subject to constant friction.

History of discovery

The years 1803-1804 became a turning point for the heaviest metal: it was at this time that its discovery took place practically under competition conditions.

First, the English chemist Smithson Tennant and his assistant William Hyde Wollaston, who made more than one important discovery, discovered an unusual sediment with a characteristic odor during an experiment with platinum ores and nitric and hydrochloric acids and shared their discovery with others.

Then the baton was picked up by French scientists Antoine de Fourcroy and Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin and, based on previous and their own research, announced the discovery of a new element. The name was given to it “pten”, which means “flying”, since as a result of the experiments they received flying black smoke.

However, Tennant did not sleep either: he continued his research and did not lose sight of the experiments of the French. As a result, Smithson achieved more concrete results and, in an official document sent to the Royal Society of London, indicated that he had divided pten into two related elements: iridium (“rainbow”) and osmium (“smell”).

Where is it used?

The list of areas of application is quite extensive: aviation, military and missile technology, aerospace industry, medicine. Although weapons manufacturers are already thinking about how to replace the heaviest metal in the world, since osmium is too difficult to process.

Almost half of the world's reserves of the heaviest metal are devoted to the needs of the chemical industry. It is used to stain living tissues under a microscope, ensuring their preservation. In addition, it is used as a dye when painting porcelain.

Isotopes of the heaviest metal are used to make containers for storing nuclear waste.

This element is also used to make elite “eternal” fountain pens and Rolex watches.

Places of natural occurrence

It is almost impossible to detect osmium in its pure form. This heavy element is usually found in combination with iridium. The substance is also contained at the crash site or in the meteorites themselves that hit the Earth.

Conclusion

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The use of metals in everyday life began at the dawn of human development, and the first metal was copper, since it is available in nature and can be easily processed. It is not without reason that archaeologists during excavations find various products and household utensils made of this metal. In the process of evolution, people gradually learned to combine various metals, obtaining increasingly durable alloys suitable for making tools, and later weapons. Nowadays, experiments continue, thanks to which it is possible to identify the strongest metals in the world.

10.

• high specific strength;
• resistance to high temperatures;
• low density;
• corrosion resistance;
• mechanical and chemical resistance.

Titanium is used in the military industry, aviation medicine, shipbuilding, and other areas of production.

9.

The most famous element, which is considered one of the most durable metals in the world, and under normal conditions is a weak radioactive metal. In nature, it is found both in a free state and in acidic sedimentary rocks. It is quite heavy, widely distributed everywhere and has paramagnetic properties, flexibility, malleability, and relative ductility. Uranium is used in many areas of production.

8.

Known as the most refractory metal in existence, it is one of the strongest metals in the world. It is a solid transitional element of a shiny silver-gray color. It has high strength, excellent refractoriness, and resistance to chemical influences. Due to its properties, it can be forged and drawn into a thin thread. Known as tungsten filament.

7.

Among the representatives of this group, it is considered a high-density transition metal with a silvery-white color. It occurs in nature in its pure form, but is found in molybdenum and copper raw materials. It is characterized by high hardness and density, and has excellent refractoriness. It has increased strength, which is not lost due to repeated temperature changes. Rhenium is an expensive metal and has a high cost. Used in modern technology and electronics.

6.

A shiny silver-white metal with a slightly bluish tint, it belongs to the platinum group and is considered one of the strongest metals in the world. Similar to iridium, it has a high atomic density, high strength and hardness. Since osmium is a platinum metal, it has properties similar to iridium: refractoriness, hardness, brittleness, resistance to mechanical stress, as well as to the influence of aggressive environments. It is widely used in surgery, electron microscopy, the chemical industry, rocketry, and electronic equipment.

5.

It belongs to the group of metals and is a light gray element with relative hardness and high toxicity. Due to its unique properties, beryllium is used in a wide variety of production areas:

• nuclear energy;
• aerospace engineering;
• metallurgy;
• laser technology;
• nuclear energy.

Due to its high hardness, beryllium is used in the production of alloying alloys and refractory materials.

4.

Next on the list of the ten strongest metals in the world is chromium - a hard, high-strength metal of a bluish-white color, resistant to alkalis and acids. It occurs in nature in its pure form and is widely used in various branches of science, technology and production. Chrome Used to create various alloys, which are used in the manufacture of medical and chemical technological equipment. When combined with iron, it forms an alloy called ferrochrome, which is used in the manufacture of metal-cutting tools.

3.

Tantalum deserves bronze in the ranking, as it is one of the strongest metals in the world. It is a silvery metal with high hardness and atomic density. Due to the formation of an oxide film on its surface, it has a leaden tint.

The distinctive properties of tantalum are high strength, refractoriness, resistance to corrosion, and resistance to aggressive environments. The metal is a fairly ductile metal and can be easily machining. Today tantalum is successfully used:

• in the chemical industry;
• during the construction of nuclear reactors;
• in metallurgical production;
• when creating heat-resistant alloys.

2.

The second place in the ranking of the most durable metals in the world is occupied by ruthenium, a silvery metal belonging to the platinum group. Its peculiarity is the presence of living organisms in the muscle tissue. Valuable properties of ruthenium are high strength, hardness, refractoriness, chemical resistance, and the ability to form complex compounds. Ruthenium is considered a catalyst for many chemical reactions and acts as a material for the manufacture of electrodes, contacts, and sharp tips.

1.

The ranking of the strongest metals in the world is headed by iridium - a silver-white, hard and refractory metal that belongs to the platinum group. In nature, the high-strength element is extremely rare and is often combined with osmium. Due to its natural hardness, it is difficult to machine and is highly resistant to chemicals. Iridium reacts with great difficulty to exposure to halogens and sodium peroxide.

This metal is playing important role in everyday life. It is added to titanium, chromium and tungsten to improve resistance to acidic environments, used in the manufacture of stationery, and used in jewelry to create jewelry. The cost of iridium remains high due to its limited presence in nature.

Physics at every step Perelman Yakov Isidorovich

Which metal is the heaviest?

Which metal is the heaviest?

In everyday life, lead is considered a heavy metal. It is heavier than zinc, tin, iron, copper, but still it cannot be called the heaviest metal. Mercury, a liquid metal, heavier than lead; If you throw a piece of lead into mercury, it will not sink in it, but will float on the surface. Liter bottle You can hardly lift mercury with one hand: it weighs almost 14 kg. However, mercury is not the heaviest metal: gold and platinum are one and a half times heavier than mercury.

The record for heaviness is broken by rare metals - iridium and osmium: they are almost three times heavier than iron and more than a hundred times heavier than cork; it would take 110 ordinary plugs to balance one iridium or osmium plug of the same dimensions.

Here for reference specific gravity some metals:

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Which metal is the lightest? Technicians call “light” all those metals that are two or more times lighter than iron. The most common light metal used in technology is aluminum, which is three times lighter than iron. Magnesium metal is even lighter: it is 1 1/2 times lighter than aluminum. IN

Mankind knows many types of metals, which today allow us to produce high-quality tools, machine parts, equipment, vehicles and many other necessary and useful things. There are incredibly light metals, durable, expensive ones, and then there are the heaviest metals. And many, thinking that mercury is such, are very mistaken. The title of “heaviest metal in the world” can be equally claimed by metals from the platinum group - osmium (atomic number 76) and iridium (atomic number 77). They both have the highest density, which is 22.6 g/cm3. Scientists believe that their mass is approximately the same, and the errors present in the calculations allow the answer to the question of which metal is the heaviest to be answered that both of these metals may well be considered the heaviest.

Iridium: discovery, features, application

This heaviest metal on Earth was discovered by the English scientist Smithson Tennat in 1803. Several centuries have already passed since the discovery of platinum. It was from this white metal that physicists managed to isolate palladium and rhodium at the beginning of the nineteenth century. And Tennat found two more elements in the metal sediments - iridium and osmium. Translated from ancient Greek, iridium means “rainbow”.

It is a silver-white metal that is not only heavy, but also quite durable. The discovered iridium is unique even for our times, since there is very little of it in the Earth’s crust. No more than 1000 kg of this metal can be produced per year. Most often, iridium is found in places where meteorites fell. Scientists claim that the silver-white metal could be a more common metal on the surface of our planet, but the fault of its small deposits is considerable atomic mass, which supposedly pressed through the rock, pushing the metal closer to the Earth's core.

Iridium is quite difficult to process and is also chemically inert. If you place a piece of such metal in a mixture of nitrogen and hydrochloric acid, then nothing will happen. The iridium isotope “192m2” has found widespread use in industry, used as a source electrical energy. The metal is also widely used in paleontology - with its help, scientists determine the age of artifacts found in the Earth. Iridium can also be used to coat other metals, however, due to the complexity of processing this metal, this is quite difficult to do. A chemical method comes to the rescue, which allows you to achieve uniform application of iridium coating on other metals and ceramic products.

Osmium: discovery, features, application

Osmium is also the heaviest metal on the periodic table. The tin-white metal with a blue tint was discovered by Smithson Tennat a year after the discovery of iridium in platinum. When platinum was dissolved in aqua regia, the scientist discovered this element in the sediment, which is a rather rarely used and expensive metal, but at the same time incredibly useful.

Osmium, like the previous identified metal, is almost impossible to process. It is mostly found in meteorites, but large deposits can also be found on our planet (for example, they exist in Russia, the USA and South Africa). Distinctive feature Osmia is an unpleasant odor in which you can smell both garlic and chlorine. Therefore, from ancient Greek the name “osmium” means “smell”.

As a rule, osmium is used to make incandescent light bulbs or other devices that require the use of refractory materials. Can be used as a catalyst in the ammonia production process. The high strength of osmium allows it to be used for the manufacture of surgical instruments. To determine the real age of an iron meteorite, the isotope osmium 187 is used. Kazakhstan can “boast” of a natural deposit of osmium. But for a gram of such metal mined from this deposit, the buyer will have to pay at least $10,000, and all because this metal is quite rare.

It can be noted that this is some kind of incredible coincidence that such heavy and rare metals are found in one alloy. And in order to separate these materials, making them separate metals that can be used in various industries, you will have to devote a lot of time and effort to the process.