Chemistry

Ruthenium

Ruthenium is a metallic chemical element of the periodic table of elements. It is a very rare metal to find, of hard consistency, grayish-white color and a member of the platinum family. It is usually used for hardener, in the electronics industry and in the manufacture of electrical contacts that are water resistant.

Ruthenium
  • Symbol: Ru
  • Atomic number: 44
  • Group: 8

What is ruthenium?

Ruthenium is a metallic chemical element of the periodic table of elements. It is a very rare metal, hard in consistency, grayish-white in color, and a member of the platinum family. It is usually used for hardener, in the electronics industry and in the manufacture of electrical contacts that are water resistant.

Characteristics of ruthenium

History

The name of the element comes from the Latin word “Ruthenia” which means Russia, since platinum minerals originated in the Ural Mountains in Russia. It was thought at first, that the initial discovery of ruthenium had occurred in 1828, when the Swedish chemist Jons Jacob Berzelius and the Russian chemist Gottfried W. Osann examined the residues of the raw platinum minerals after dissolving them in royal water, which was a concentrated solution of hydrochloric and nitric acids. Osann believed that there were three new metals in these wastes, which he called pluranium, polynium and ruthenium. Berzelius, however, did not believe much in this new theory. Sometime later, in 1844, in Kazan, Russia, Karl K. Klaus repeated Osann’s work to try to clarify the results that had been obtained. At that time, he managed to prove that there was only one new metal present in the residues. He thus decided to keep Osann’s ruthenium name for this new metal.

Who discovered ruthenium?

It was discovered by the chemist and scientist Karl Ernst Claus in 1844, who doing some experiments managed to observe that the platinum oxide contained a new metal, obtaining through his tests, six grams of ruthenium from the part of platinum that is insoluble in royal water.

Properties

What is it for?

Some of the applications that can be given to it are the following:

Where it is found?

It can be found freely in nature and is often found with other metals that belong to the platinum group. Commercially, it is obtained from pentlandite, which is a sulfur of iron and nickel, which contains small amounts of ruthenium. It can also be extracted from spent nuclear fuel; however, if obtained in this way, it will contain radioactive isotopes, which tends to have some risks. After obtained, ruthenium should be stored safely for at least ten years until the radioactive isotopes have decomposed.

Written by Gabriela Briceño V.
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How to cite this article?

Briceño V., Gabriela. (2019). Ruthenium. Recovered on 23 February, 2024, de Euston96: https://www.euston96.com/en/ruthenium/

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