Ruthenium

This week, we're meeting ruthenium, a chemical element that even I'd forgotten about! Ruthenium has the symbol Ru and the atomic number 44. This rare element was named for the area of Eastern Europe that includes present-day western Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, as well as parts of Poland and Slovakia. As you can see in the above image, ruthenium is a hard, lustrous silvery metal. It is in the precious metal, or platinum, group (group 8) of the periodic table. One of the rarest metals on earth, ruthenium is becoming increasingly valuable as we better understand just how useful it is. Ruthenium does not tarnish at room temperatures, nor is it attacked by hot or cold acids or by aqua regia (which can dissolve gold). Resistance to corrosion is one of ruthenium's important qualities: adding tiny amounts of ruthenium to create alloys with other metals likewise makes them corrosion-resistant and also strengthens them. These alloys are commonly used in platinum jewelry and in electrical contacts that must resist wear. Currently, 50 percent of the ruthenium is used by the electronics industry and 40 percent is used by the chemical industry, whilst the remainder is primarily used to create alloys of platinum (for jewelry) and titanium (for corrosion-resistant underwater pipes). Ruthenium has no known biological role nor is it poisonous, although ingested ruthenium is concentrated and retained by the bones. Many of us have met ruthenium whilst admiring expensive writing instruments. Parker pens uses ruthenium to make the nib of its "RU" fountain pen: the nib is 14-carat gold with a ruthenium tip. Here's the Professor telling us a little more about ruthenium, and he's also correcting an "embarrassing" mistake in the first version of this video: Visit periodicvideos 's YouTube channel [ video link ]. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Video journalist Brady Haran is the man with the camera and the University of Nottingham is the place with the chemists. You can follow Brady on twitter @ periodicvideos and the University of Nottingham on twitter @ UniNottingham You've already met these elements: Technetium : Tc , atomic number 43 Molybdenum : Mo , atomic number 42 Niobium : Ni , atomic number 41 Zirconium : Zr , atomic number 40 Yttrium : Y , atomic number 39 Strontium : Sr , atomic number 38 Rubidium : Rr , atomic number 37 Krypton : Kr , atomic number 36 Bromine : Br , atomic number 35 Selenium : Se , atomic number 34 Arsenic : As , atomic number 33 Germanium : Ge , atomic number 32 Gallium : Ga , atomic number 31 Zinc : Zn , atomic number 30 Copper : Cu , atomic number 29 Nickel : Ni , atomic number 28 Cobalt : Co , atomic number 27 Iron : Fe , atomic number 26 Manganese : Mn , atomic number 25 Chromium : Cr , atomic number 24 Vanadium : V , atomic number 23 Titanium : Ti , atomic number 22 Scandium : Sc , atomic number 21 Calcium : Ca , atomic number 20 Potassium : K , atomic number 19 Argon : Ar , atomic number 18 Chlorine : Cl , atomic number 17 Sulfur : S , atomic number 16 Phosphorus : P , atomic number 15 Silicon : Si , atomic number 14 Aluminium : Al , atomic number 13 Magnesium : Mg , atomic number 12 Sodium : Na , atomic number 11 Neon : Ne , atomic number 10 Fluorine : F , atomic number 9 Oxygen : O , atomic number 8 Nitrogen : N , atomic number 7 Carbon : C , atomic number 6 Boron : B , atomic number 5 Beryllium : Be , atomic number 4 Lithium : Li , atomic number 3 Helium : He , atomic number 2 Hydrogen : H , atomic number 1 Here's a wonderful interactive Periodic Table of the Elements that is just really really fun to play with! .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. twitter: @ GrrlScientist facebook: grrlscientist evil google+: grrlscientist email: [email protected]