So today I want to tell you about the heaviest metal on earth – Osmium, it has the highest density of all of the metals.In the periodic table of chemical elements osmium is in the 8th group, under the atomic number 76.In addition to having the highest density of all the metals, another one of osmium’s traits is its color as it has a pronounced bluish tinge. As an example, if we compare it with a drop of iridium, you can easily notice the blue color of the droplet of osmium, which weighs one gram.
source/image: Thoisoi2 – Chemical Experiments!
By the way, iridium takes the seconds place of the highest density metals and it was pretty close as the density of it differs by only one tenth of a percent from that of osmium. You may also notice the small size of the droplet of osmium weighing 1 gram in comparison with my finger. On this massive photo I compared the density of different metals, the mass of each of them is equal to one gram.
We begin with osmium with the highest density of them, then it is iridium, then lead, cobalt, iron, tin, yttrium, aluminum, magnesium, and finishing with sodium whose density is almost the same as that of water.On this photo you can see how largely the density of the 2 metals can vary. Looking at the physical properties, osmium is very fragile and at the same time a fairly hard metal, the hardness of which on the Mohs scale is comparable to quartz.
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Because of this property it is used in the tips of some expensive fountain pens. However, due to its hardness and brittleness osmium is effectively very badly suited for processing, so you’re unlikely to find any jewelry of this metal.Nonetheless, to get some aesthetic pleasure you can look at these beautiful single crystals of osmium, which have a very pronounced grain structure.Do not repeat the experiments shown in this video!
