Ruthenium - a 'sort of' precious metal
10/10/19 • 8 min
Ruthenium is a 'sort of' precious metal that is a useful catalyst and alloy. It is toxic and smells like ozone, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 73 of Elemental.
Ruthenium is a rare transition metal produced mostly as a by-product of nickel mining.
It is not widely used industrially, although it is found in some catalysts and alloys. It is more useful in the chemistry laboratory, where it has helped several chemists win Nobel Prizes.
Ruthenium is toxic and if you have the bad fortune to be exposed to it, it smells of ozone says Professor Allan Blackman from the Auckland University of Technology, in episode 73 of Elemental.
Ruthenium is a 'sort of' precious metal that is a useful catalyst and alloy. It is toxic and smells like ozone, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 73 of Elemental.
Ruthenium is a rare transition metal produced mostly as a by-product of nickel mining.
It is not widely used industrially, although it is found in some catalysts and alloys. It is more useful in the chemistry laboratory, where it has helped several chemists win Nobel Prizes.
Ruthenium is toxic and if you have the bad fortune to be exposed to it, it smells of ozone says Professor Allan Blackman from the Auckland University of Technology, in episode 73 of Elemental.
Previous Episode
Rubidium - expensive and not very useful
Rubidium is a reactive metal with few uses, named 'deepest red' due to its beautiful red spectral lines, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 72 of Elemental.
Rubidium is named after the Latin word rubidius, meaning 'deepest red.'
It is a group one metal, which makes it soft, highly reactive with water and with a low melting point.
Rubidium helped win a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001 for the discoverers of Bose-Einstein condensates, says Professor Allan Blackman from the Auckland University of Technology, in episode 72 of Elemental.
Next Episode
Samarium - magnets for making & listening to music
Samarium magnets are used in headphones & guitar pickups, and samarium was the first element named after a real person, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 74 of Elemental.
Samarium was the first element on the periodic table to be named after a real, as opposed to a mythical, person.
It is a lanthanoid and alloys of it are useful in magnets, which can be thousands of times stronger than iron magnets.
These magnets are found in headphones and high-end magnetic pickups for electric guitars and basses.
Samarium magnets were also used in the motors of one of the earliest solar-powered electric aircraft, the Solar Challenger, says Professor Allan Blackman from the Auckland University of Technology, in episode 74 of Elemental.
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