Table of Contents
Chemical properties of osmium – Health effects of osmium – Environmental effects of osmium
| Atomic number | 76 |
|---|---|
| Density | 22.5 g.cm–3 at 20°C |
| Melting point | 3045 °C |
| Boiling point | 5027 °C |
| Vanderwaals radius | 0.136 nm |
What is osmium physical properties?
Physical properties Osmium is a bluish-white, shiny metal with a melting point of about 3,000°C (5,400°F) and a boiling point of about 5,500°C (9,900°F). Its density is 22.5 grams per cubic centimeter. These numbers are the highest of any platinum metal. They are also among the highest of all elements.
What is osmium used for?
Osmium has only a few uses. It is used to produce very hard alloys for fountain pen tips, instrument pivots, needles and electrical contacts. It is also used in the chemical industry as a catalyst.
Can you crush a diamond with a hammer?
As an example, you can scratch steel with a diamond, but you can easily shatter a diamond with a hammer. The diamond is hard, the hammer is strong. Whether something is hard or strong depends on its internal structure. Diamonds, because of their lack of flexibility in the structure, are not actually very strong at all.
Why is osmium so cheap?
Osmium is still not as expensive as Gold, being around $400 USD per ounce compared $1,300 USD per ounce. This is partly because it has very few commercial applications.
Can osmium kill you?
Osmium Tetroxide is lethal and can be bought on the internet for less than £17 a gram, but experts say it is not as dangerous as the sarin gas unleashed on the Tokyo subway in 1995 which killed 12 and injured 6,000. But when osmium is exposed to air, the highly toxic oxide osmium tetroxide is produced.
Is osmium chemically stable?
Osmium has a blue-gray tint and is the densest stable element; it is approximately twice as dense as lead and slightly denser than iridium.
What are 5 interesting facts about osmium?
Facts About Osmium
- Atomic Number: 76 Atomic Symbol: Os Atomic Weight: 190.23 Melting Point: 5,491.4 F (3,033 C) Boiling Point: 9,053.6 F (5,012 C)
- Word origin: Osmium comes from the Greek term osme, which means smell, scent, odor.
Why is osmium dangerous?
The substance is corrosive to the eyes, the skin, and the respiratory tract. Inhalation of this substance may cause lung oedema. Exposure to high concentrations may result in death.
Is osmium heavier than gold?
Osmium is the most dense metal! Many people are familiar with lead (11.3 kg/L), but osmium is twice as dense (22.6 kg/L)! Each liter (about 1/4 gallon) of osmium weighs 22.6 kg (50 lbs). Some other heavy metals include tungsten and gold (19.3 kg/L), which are almost as dense as osmium.
Is osmium the strongest metal?
The stiffest materials also tend to be the hardest ones. Although osmium is hard for a metal, it’s far softer than diamond, so when an estimate of its bulk modulus turned out higher than diamond, no one took it very seriously, says Hyunchae Cynn of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
Can osmium stop a bullet?
Osmium is so hard (nearly as hard as diamond) that in trying to force it into the narrower space of the rifling, you may simply shatter the bullet, because it it also very brittle.
What is the strongest rock in the world?
The strongest rock in the world is diabase, followed closely by other fine-grained igneous rocks and quartzite. Diabase is strongest in compression, tension, and shear stress. If mineral hardness is the determining factor of strength then diamond is technically the strongest rock in the world.
Why is osmium so expensive?
Osmium tetroxide is expensive because osmium is a rare element. Osmium is one of the rarest elements in the Earth’s crust. Osmium is obtained as a by-product from nickel and copper processing. The US production of Os is probably only about 75 kg/year.
What is the chemical formula for osmium?
Osmium Mineral Data
| General Osmium Information | |
|---|---|
| Chemical Formula: | (Os,Ir) |
| Synonym: | ICSD 40323 |
| Iridosmine | |
| Nevyanakite | |
What is the strongest metal on earth?
In terms of tensile strength, tungsten is the strongest out of any natural metal (142,000 psi).
How is osmium brittle?
A gray-white metal, osmium is very hard, brittle, and difficult to work, even at high temperatures. Of the platinum metals it has the highest melting point, so fusing and casting are difficult. Osmium wires were used for filaments of early incandescent lamps before the introduction of tungsten.
Can osmium be used in jewelry?
Osmium can be used in jewelry since it became possible to crystallize it. Hublot for example made use of this in clock faces for exclusive wrist watches. In more recent times, jewellers no longer create jewellery with osmium alone, but replace the traditional diamond, which is not as easy to work with, with osmium.
Is osmium harder than diamond?
Researchers from us-based Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (llnl) have discovered that osmium, a metal, is harder than diamond. It withstands compression better than any other material.
What is the heaviest material on earth?
Osmium is one of the heaviest materials on earth, weighing twice as much as lead per teaspoon. Osmium is a chemical element in the platinum group metals; it’s often used as alloys in electrical contacts and fountain pen nibs.
How strong is osmium?
Osmium (3920–4000 MPa)
Are Diamonds bulletproof?
It doesn’t seem unreasonable to wonder whether diamonds are bulletproof, since diamond is the world’s hardest natural material. Diamonds are not however bulletproof in general, as while they are hard, they are not particularly tough and their brittleness will cause them to shatter when struck by a bullet.
What is the symbol of osmium?
Os
What is an interesting fact about osmium?
Osmium is the rarest of all stable elements. It is only found at 0.05 parts per billion in the Earth’s crust. Osmium occurs naturally as either a free element or in naturally occurring alloys. Just like the other members of the platinum metals group, osmium is found naturally alloyed with both nickel and copper.
Can I buy osmium?
Pure osmium metal is available to the public in many forms. It was a tall order for the suppliers in our network because they had no working experience with osmium and the design specs called for absolute perfection.
