We all love metals. Cars, bicycles, kitchen appliances, drink cans, and more are all made of metal. Metal is the cornerstone of our lives. But sometimes it can be very difficult.
When we talk about the gravity of a particular metal, we usually mean its density, that is, the ratio of mass to the volume occupied.
Another way to measure the "weight" of metals is their relative atomic mass. The heaviest metals in terms of relative atomic mass are plutonium and uranium.
If you want to know which metal is the heaviest, if we consider its density, then we are happy to help you. Here are the top 10 heaviest metals on Earth, with their density per cubic cm.
10. Tantalum - 16.67 g / cm³
Tantalum is an important component in many modern technologies. In particular, it is used for the production of capacitors, which are used in computers and mobile phones.
9. Uranium - 19.05 g / cm³
This is the most heavy element on Earth, considering atomic mass- 238.0289 g / mol. In its pure form, uranium is a silvery-brown heavy metal that is almost twice as dense as lead.
Like plutonium, uranium is a necessary ingredient for building nuclear weapons.
8. Tungsten - 19.29 g / cm³
Considered one of the most dense elements in the world. In addition to its exceptional properties (high thermal and electrical conductivity, very high resistance to acids and abrasion), tungsten also has three unique properties:
- After carbon, it has the highest melting point, plus 3422°C. And its boiling point, plus 5555°C, is roughly comparable to the surface temperature of the sun.
- It accompanies tin ores, but prevents the smelting of tin, turning it into slag foam. For this, he got his name, which in German means "wolf cream".
- Tungsten has the lowest coefficient of linear expansion when heated of all metals.
7. Gold - 19.29 g / cm³
Since ancient times, people have been buying, selling and even killing for this precious metal. Yes, people, entire countries are engaged in buying up gold. The current leader is America. And it is unlikely that the time will come when there will be no need for gold.
They say money doesn't grow on trees, but gold does! A small amount of gold can be found in eucalyptus leaves if it is on gold-bearing soil.
6. Plutonium - 19.80 g / cm³
The sixth heaviest metal in the world is one of the most needed components for. And he is a real chameleon in the world of elements. Plutonium showing a colorful oxidation state in aqueous solutions, while their color varies from light purple and chocolate to light orange and green. 
The color depends on the degree of oxidation of plutonium and acid salts.
5. Neptunium - 20.47 g / cm³
This silvery metal, named after the planet Neptune, was discovered by chemist Edwin Macmillan and geochemist Philip Abelson in 1940. It is used to obtain the sixth number on our list, plutonium.
4. Rhenium - 21.01 g / cm³
The word "Rhenium" comes from the Latin Rhenus, which means "Rhine". It is not difficult to guess that this metal was discovered in Germany. The honor of its discovery belongs to the German chemists Ida and Walter Noddak. It is the last element discovered to have a stable isotope.
Due to its very high melting point, rhenium (in the form of alloys with molybdenum, tungsten and other metals) is used to create components for rocketry and aviation.
3. Platinum - 21.40 g / cm³
One on this list (other than Osmium and California-252) is used in the most different areas- from jewelry to the chemical industry and space technology. In Russia, the leader in the production of platinum metal is MMC Norilsk Nickel. About 25 tons of platinum is mined annually in the country.
2. Osmium - 22.61 g / cm³
The brittle and at the same time extremely hard metal is rarely used in its pure form. Mostly mixed with other dense metals, such as platinum, to create very complex and expensive surgical equipment.
The name "osmium" comes from the ancient Greek word for "smell". When the alkaline alloy of osmiridium is dissolved in the liquid, a sharp amber appears, similar to the smell of chlorine or rotten radish.
1. Iridium - 22.65 g / cm³ - the heaviest metal
This metal can rightfully claim to be the element with the highest density. However, disputes about which metal is heavier - iridium or osmium, are still ongoing. And the thing is that any impurity can reduce the density of these metals, and obtaining them in their pure form is a very difficult task.
The theoretical calculated density of iridium is 22.65 g/cm³. It is almost three times heavier than iron (7.8 g/cm³). And almost twice as heavy as the heaviest liquid metal - mercury (13.6 g / cm³).
Like osmium, iridium was discovered by the English chemist Smithson Tennant in the early 19th century. It is curious that Tennant found iridium not at all purposefully, but by accident. It was found in an impurity left after the dissolution of platinum.
Iridium is primarily used as a platinum alloy hardener for equipment that must withstand high temperatures. It is processed from platinum ore and is a by-product of nickel mining.
The name "iridium" is translated from ancient Greek as "rainbow". This is due to the presence of salts of various colors in the metal.
The heaviest metal in periodic table Mendeleev is very rare in terrestrial substances. Therefore, its high concentration in rock samples is a marker of their meteorite origin. About 10,000 kilograms of iridium are mined every year around the world. Its largest supplier is South Africa.
Among the curiosities hidden in the depths of the universe, a small star near Sirius will probably forever preserve one of the significant places. This star is made of matter 60,000 times heavier than water! When we pick up a glass of mercury, we are surprised by its heaviness: it weighs about 3 kg. But what would we say about a glass of matter weighing 12 tons and requiring a railway platform to transport? This seems absurd, and yet such is one of the discoveries of modern astronomy.
This discovery has a long and highly instructive history. It has long been observed that the resplendent Sirius is doing his own movement among the stars, not in a straight line, like most other stars, but along a strange winding path. To explain these features of its movement, the famous astronomer Bessel suggested that Sirius was accompanied by a satellite, which “perturbed” its movement with its attraction. This was in 1844 - two years before Neptune was discovered "at the tip of a pen." And in 1862, after Bessel's death, his guess was fully confirmed, since the suspected satellite of Sirius was seen through a telescope.
The satellite of Sirius - the so-called "Sirius B" - orbits about main star at 49 years at a distance 20 times greater than the Earth around the Sun (i.e., about the distance of Uranus). This is a weak star of the eighth or ninth magnitude, but its mass is very impressive, almost 0.8 of the mass of our Sun. At the distance of Sirius, our Sun would have to shine as a star of magnitude 1.8; therefore, if the satellite of Sirius had a surface reduced in comparison with the solar one in accordance with the ratio of the masses of these luminaries, then at the same temperature it would have to shine like a star of about the second magnitude, and not the eighth or ninth. Astronomers originally explained such a weak brightness by the low temperature on the surface of this star; it was considered as a cooling sun, covered with an already solid crust.
But this assumption turned out to be wrong. It was possible to establish that the modest satellite of Sirius is not a fading star at all, but, on the contrary, belongs to stars with a high surface temperature, much higher than that of our Sun. This completely changes things. The weak brightness must therefore be attributed only to the small size of the surface of this star. It is calculated that it sends out 360 times less light than the Sun; this means that its surface must be at least 360 times smaller than the sun, and the radius must be j/360, i.e., 19 times less than the sun. From this we conclude that the volume of the satellite of Sirius should be less than 6800th of the volume of the Sun, while its mass is almost 0.8 of the mass of the daylight. This alone speaks of the high density of the matter of this star. A more accurate calculation gives for the diameter of the planet only 40,000 km, and consequently, for the density - the monstrous number that we gave at the beginning of the section: 60,000 times the density of water.
“Prick up your ears, physicists: an invasion is being planned into your area,” Kepler’s words come to mind, spoken by him, however, on a different occasion. Indeed, no physicist could imagine anything like this until now. Under normal conditions, such a significant compaction is completely unthinkable, since the gaps between normal atoms in solids are too small to allow any noticeable compression of their substance. The situation is different in the case of "mutilated" atoms that have lost those electrons that circled around the nuclei. The loss of electrons reduces the diameter of an atom by several thousand times, almost without reducing its weight; the naked nucleus is about as many times smaller than a normal atom as a fly is smaller than a large building. Shifted by the monstrous pressure prevailing in the bowels of the stellar ball, these reduced atoms-nuclei can approach a thousand times closer than normal atoms, and create a substance of that unheard-of density, which is found on the satellite of Sirius.
After what's been said it won't seem incredible discovery star, the average density of which is another 500 times greater than that of the substance of the previously mentioned star Sirius B. We are talking about a small star of the 13th magnitude in the constellation Cassiopeia, discovered at the end of 1935. Being no larger than Mars in volume and eight times smaller than the globe, this star has a mass almost three times the mass of our Sun (more precisely, 2.8 times). In ordinary units, the average density of its substance is expressed as 36,000,000 g/cm3. This means that 1 cm3 of such a substance would weigh 36 tons on Earth. This substance, therefore, is almost 2 million times denser than gold.
A few years ago, of course, scientists would have considered the existence of a substance millions of times denser than platinum unthinkable. The abysses of the universe hide, probably, many more such wonders of nature.
Each of you knows that diamond remains the standard of hardness today. When determining the mechanical hardness of materials existing on earth, the hardness of diamond is taken as a standard: when measured by the Mohs method - in the form of a surface sample, by the Vickers or Rockwell methods - as an indenter (as more solid when examining a body with less hardness). To date, several materials can be noted, the hardness of which approaches the characteristics of diamond.
In this case, the original materials are compared based on their microhardness according to the Vickers method, when the material is considered superhard at values of more than 40 GPa. The hardness of materials can vary, depending on the characteristics of the synthesis of the sample or the direction of the load applied to it.
Fluctuations in hardness values from 70 to 150 GPa is a generally established concept for hard materials, although 115 GPa is considered to be a reference value. Let's take a look at the 10 hardest materials other than diamond that exist in nature.
10. Boron suboxide (B 6 O) - hardness up to 45 GPa
Boron suboxide has the ability to create grains shaped like icosahedrons. The formed grains in this case are not isolated crystals or varieties of quasicrystals, representing a kind of twin crystals, consisting of two dozen paired crystals-tetrahedra.
10. Rhenium diboride (ReB 2) - hardness 48 GPa
Many researchers question whether this material can be classified as a superhard type of material. This is due to the highly unusual mechanical properties of the compound.
The layer-by-layer alternation of different atoms makes this material anisotropic. Therefore, the measurement of hardness indicators turns out to be different in the presence of different types of crystallographic planes. Thus, testing rhenium diboride at low loads provides a hardness of 48 GPa, and with increasing load, the hardness becomes much less and is approximately 22 GPa.
8. Magnesium aluminum boride (AlMgB 14) - hardness up to 51 GPa
The composition is a mixture of aluminum, magnesium, boron with low sliding friction, as well as high hardness. These qualities could be a godsend for the production of modern machines and mechanisms that work without lubrication. But the use of the material in such a variation is still considered prohibitively expensive.
AlMgB14 - special thin films created using pulsed laser deposition, have the ability to have microhardness up to 51 GPa.
7. Boron-carbon-silicon - hardness up to 70 GPa
The basis of such a connection provides the alloy with qualities that imply optimal resistance to chemical influences of a negative type and high temperature. Such material is provided with microhardness up to 70 GPa.
6. Boron carbide B 4 C (B 12 C 3) - hardness up to 72 GPa
Another material is boron carbide. The substance has been actively used in different areas industry almost immediately after its invention in the 18th century.
The microhardness of the material reaches 49 GPa, but it has been proven that this figure can also be increased by adding argon ions to the structure. crystal lattice– up to 72 GPa.
5. Carbon-boron nitride - hardness up to 76 GPa
Researchers and scientists from all over the world have long been trying to synthesize complex superhard materials, in which tangible results have already been achieved. The components of the compound are boron, carbon and nitrogen atoms - similar in size. The qualitative hardness of the material reaches 76 GPa.
4. Nanostructured cubonite - hardness up to 108 GPa
The material is also called kingsongite, borazone or elbor, and also has unique qualities that are successfully used in modern industry. With cubonite hardness values of 80-90 GPa, close to the diamond standard, the strength of the Hall-Petch law can cause their significant growth.
This means that with a decrease in the size of crystalline grains, the hardness of the material increases - there are certain possibilities for increasing up to 108 GPa.
3. Wurtzite boron nitride - hardness up to 114 GPa
Wurtzite crystal structure provides high hardness values this material. With local structural modifications, during the application of a specific type of load, the bonds between atoms in the lattice of a substance are redistributed. At this point, the quality hardness of the material becomes 78% higher.
2. Lonsdaleite - hardness up to 152 GPa
Lonsdaleite is an allotropic modification of carbon and is distinctly similar to diamond. A solid natural material was discovered in a meteorite crater, formed from graphite, one of the meteorite components, but it did not have a record degree of strength.
Scientists have proven back in 2009 that the absence of impurities can provide a hardness exceeding the hardness of diamond. High hardness values can be achieved in this case, as in the case of wurtzite boron nitride.
1. Fullerite - hardness up to 310 GPa
Polymerized fullerite is now considered the hardest material known to science. This is a structured molecular crystal, the nodes of which are composed of whole molecules, and not of individual atoms.
Fullerite has a hardness of up to 310 GPa and is capable of scratching a diamond surface like normal plastic. As you can see, diamond is no longer the hardest natural material in the world, harder compounds are available to science.
So far, these are the hardest materials on Earth known to science. It is quite possible that soon we will have new discoveries and a breakthrough in the field of chemistry / physics, which will allow us to achieve higher hardness.
The strongest stable oxidizing agent, is a complex of krypton difluoride and antimony pentafluoride. Due to the strong oxidizing action (oxidizes all elements in higher degrees oxidation, including oxygen and nitrogen in the air) it is very difficult for him to measure the electrode potential. The only solvent that reacts with it rather slowly is anhydrous hydrogen fluoride.
The densest substance, is osmium. Its density is 22.5 g/cm 3 .
The lightest metal is lithium. Its density is 0.543 g/cm 3 .
most expensive metal is California. Its cost is currently $6,500,000 per 1 gram.
The most common element in earth's crust is oxygen. Its content is 49% of the mass of the earth's crust.
The rarest element in the earth's crust is astatine. Its content in the entire earth's crust, according to experts, is only 0.16 grams.
most combustible substance, is apparently a fine powder of zirconium. In order to prevent it from burning, it is necessary to place it in an inert gas atmosphere on a plate made of a material that does not contain non-metals.
The substance with the lowest boiling point, is helium. Its boiling point is -269 degrees Celsius. Helium is the only substance that does not have a melting point at normal pressure. Even at absolute zero, it remains liquid. Liquid helium is widely used in cryogenic technology.
The most refractory metal is tungsten. Its melting point is +3420 degrees Celsius. It is used to make filaments for electric light bulbs.
The hardest material is an alloy of hafnium and tantalum carbides (1:1). It has a melting point of +4215 C.
The lightest metal, is mercury. Its melting point is -38.87 degrees Celsius. She is also the heaviest liquid, its density is 13.54 g/cm 3 .
Highest water solubility among solids has antimony trichloride. Its solubility at +25 C is 9880 grams per liter.
The lightest gas, is hydrogen. The mass of 1 liter is only 0.08988 grams.
by the most heavy gas at room temperature, is tungsten hexafluoride (bp. +17 C). Its mass is 12.9 g/l, i.e. some types of foam can float in it.
Most acid resistant metal, is iridium. Until now, no acid or mixture of them is known in which it would dissolve.
The widest range of explosive concentration limits has carbon disulfide. All mixtures of carbon disulfide vapors with air containing from 1 to 50 volume percent of carbon disulfide can explode.
The strongest stable acid is a solution of antimony pentafluoride in hydrogen fluoride. Depending on the concentration of antimony pentafluoride, this acid can have a Hammett index of up to -40.
The most unusual anion in salt is an electron. It is part of the electride 18-crown-6 sodium complex.
Records for organics
The bitterest substance, is denatonium saccharinate. It was obtained by accident, during the study of denatonium benzoate. The combination of the latter with the sodium salt of saccharin gave a substance 5 times more bitter than the previous record holder (denatonium benzoate). Currently, both of these substances are used to denature alcohol and other non-food products.
The strongest poison, is botulinum toxin type A. Its lethal dose for mice (LD50, intraperitoneally) is 0.000026 µg/kg body weight. It is a 150,000 molecular weight protein produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum.
The most non-toxic organic substance, is methane. With an increase in its concentration, intoxication occurs due to a lack of oxygen, and not as a result of poisoning.
The strongest adsorbent, was obtained in 1974 from a starch derivative, acrylamide and acrylic acid. This substance is able to hold water, the mass of which is 1300 times greater than its own.
The most stinking compounds are ethylselenol and butylmercaptan. The concentration that a person can detect by smell is so small that there are still no methods to accurately determine it. Its value is estimated to be 2 nanograms per cubic meter of air.
The most powerful hallucinogenic substance, is l-lysergic acid diethylamide. A dose of just 100 micrograms causes hallucinations lasting about a day.
The sweetest substance, is N-(N-cyclononylamino(4-cyanophenylimino)methyl)-2-aminoacetic acid. This substance is 200,000 times sweeter than a 2% sucrose solution, but due to its toxicity, it apparently will not be used as a sweetener. Of the industrial substances, the sweetest is talin, which is 3,500 to 6,000 times sweeter than sucrose.
The slowest enzyme, is a nitrogenase that catalyzes the assimilation of atmospheric nitrogen by nodule bacteria. The full cycle of transformation of one nitrogen molecule into 2 ammonium ions takes one and a half seconds.
The most powerful narcotic analgesic is, apparently, a substance synthesized in Canada in the 80s. Its effective analgesic dose in mice (subcutaneously) is only 3.7 nanograms per kilogram of body weight, making it 500 times more potent than etorphine.
Organic matter with the highest nitrogen content is bis(diazotetrazolyl)hydrazine. It contains 87.5% nitrogen. This explosive is extremely sensitive to impact, friction and heat.
The substance with the largest molecular weight is snail hemocyanin (carries oxygen). Its molecular weight is 918,000,000 daltons, which is more than the molecular weight of even DNA.
Man has always sought to find materials that leave no chance for their competitors. Since ancient times, scientists have been looking for the hardest materials in the world, the lightest and heaviest. The thirst for discovery led to the discovery ideal gas and a perfect black body. We present you the most amazing substances in the world.
1. The blackest substance
The blackest substance in the world is called Vantablack and is made up of carbon nanotubes(see carbon and its allotropic modifications). Simply put, the material consists of countless "hairs", hitting which, the light bounces from one tube to another. In this way, about 99.965% of the light flux is absorbed and only a negligible part is reflected back to the outside.
The discovery of Vantablack opens up broad prospects for the use of this material in astronomy, electronics and optics.
2. The most combustible substance
Chlorine trifluoride is the most flammable substance ever known to mankind. It is the strongest oxidizing agent and reacts with almost all chemical elements. Chlorine trifluoride can burn through concrete and easily ignites glass! The use of chlorine trifluoride is almost impossible due to its phenomenal flammability and the inability to ensure the safety of use.
3. The most poisonous substance
The most powerful poison is botulinum toxin. We know it under the name Botox, that is how it is called in cosmetology, where it has found its main application. Botulinum toxin is Chemical substance produced by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum. Besides the fact that botulinum toxin is the most poisonous substance, so it also has the largest molecular weight among proteins. The phenomenal toxicity of the substance is evidenced by the fact that only 0.00002 mg min / l of botulinum toxin is enough to make the affected area deadly for humans for half a day.
4. The hottest substance
This is the so-called quark-gluon plasma. The substance was created using the collision of gold atoms at almost the speed of light. Quark-gluon plasma has a temperature of 4 trillion degrees Celsius. For comparison, this figure is 250,000 times higher than the temperature of the Sun! Unfortunately, the lifetime of a substance is limited to one trillionth of a trillionth of a second.
5. The most corrosive acid
Antimony fluoride H becomes the champion in this nomination. Antimony fluoride is 2×10 16 (two hundred quintillion) times more caustic than sulphuric acid. This is very active substance, which can explode when a small amount of water is added. The fumes of this acid are deadly poisonous.
6. The most explosive substance
The most explosive substance is heptanitrocuban. It is very expensive and is used only for scientific research. But a slightly less explosive HMX is successfully used in military affairs and in geology when drilling wells.
7. The most radioactive substance
Polonium-210 is an isotope of polonium that does not exist in nature, but is made by man. It is used to create miniature, but at the same time, very powerful energy sources. It has a very short half-life and is therefore capable of causing severe radiation sickness.
8. The heaviest substance
It is, of course, fullerite. Its hardness is almost 2 times higher than that of natural diamonds. You can read more about fullerite in our article The Hardest Materials in the World.
9. Strongest magnet
The world's strongest magnet is made up of iron and nitrogen. At present, details about this substance are not available to the general public, but it is already known that the new super-magnet is 18% more powerful than the strongest magnets currently in use - neodymium. Neodymium magnets are made from neodymium, iron and boron.
10. The most fluid substance
Superfluid Helium II has almost no viscosity at temperatures close to absolute zero. This property is due to its unique property seep and pour out of a vessel made of any solid material. Helium II has the potential to be used as an ideal thermal conductor in which heat does not dissipate.
