By Hayley Rost

Some common day uses for Iridium

Family name: Transition Metal

Common Uses: Not found very much due to being almost impossible to machine

Found in: Some types of platinum jewelry(used as a hardening agent for platinum)

Description at room temp: Solid; density: 22.42 g per cubic cm; very brittle; most resistant metals; white with yellowish tinge

Iridium has 77 protons and 115 neutrons in its electron configuration. It also has 8 orbitals or shells.

LINK FOR INFORMATION:

http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele077.html

LINKS FOR PICTURES:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.wcclp.com/designimgs/iridium_overview2.jpg&imgrefurl

http://z.about.com/d/chemistry/1/0/h/Q/iridium.jpg

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/sciences/Chemistry/Generalchemistry/
Elements/onlibeinteractive/Iridium/b0077.gif&imgrefurl

Iridium was discovered and named by a British scientist, Smithson Tennant. In about 1800 he began an partnership with W. H. Wollaston in London to improve the technology of the fabrication of platinum. This metal had for some time been known to dissolve almost completely in water, but a small black residue always remained and was for a time thought to be graphite. In the summer of 1803 Tennant began a study of this material which ended in the identification of both osmium and iridium.

Iridium comes in many different shapes and sizes one of the shapes it comes in is a solid sheet.

Purification of Iridium

A method of separating iridium from at least one other metal of the group consisting of platinum, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium and gold comprising converting the PGMs and gold in a solution to lower oxidation states by treating the solution with hydrogen peroxide in acid medium at elevated temperature, adjusting the pH of the solution to approximately pH 9, separating the precipitate to leave iridium and platinum in solution, converting the platinum and iridium to their highest valency states by the action of sodium bromate in acid medium at elevated temperature and adjusting the pH of the solution to between about 6.5 and 7.5 to precipitate iridium and leave platinum in solution.

It's Elementary

Chemical symbol: Ir

Period number: 6

Group number: 9D

Group name: Transition Metals

FUN FACTS:

·      Derived from the Latin word for rainbow- iris

·      Discovered by English scientist Smithson Tennant in 1803

·      A thin, worldwide layer of iridium exists in a layer of sediment

·      The layer of iridium seen as evidence a meteor or asteroid