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/r/AskScienceDiscussion: For open-ended and hypothetical questions.FAQ: In-depth answers to many popular questions.Weekly Features: Archives of AskAnything Wednesday, FAQ Fridays, and more!.Be civil: Remember the human and follow Reddiquette.Report comments that do not meet our guidelines, including medical advice.Downvote anecdotes, speculation, and jokes.Upvote on-topic answers supported by reputable sources and scientific research.Answer questions with accurate, in-depth explanations, including peer-reviewed sources where possible.The fact that it has a high resistance to corrosion makes it useful for items such as hypodermic needles and rocket engines, and the aerospace industry uses iridium to produce alloys that will give a long life to certain engine parts, as well as being used to make corrosion resistant deep water pipes.Please read our guidelines and FAQ before posting
Iridium is used as an additive to platinum, creating alloys that increase the hardness of the platinum. The remaining 25% finds use in outlets such as for crucibles, spark plugs and alloys.
Around 25% of iridium is used by the chemical industry, another 25% is used in the electrical industry, the electro-chemical industry, and in particular the chlor-alkali industry, also around 25%. Presently, 37% of iridium is consumed by the electronics industry, due its high corrosion (highest) and heat (10th highest) resistance qualities. 191Ir and 193Ir are the only two naturally occurring isotopes of iridium, as well as the only stable isotopes the latter is the more abundant of the two. The annual production and consumption of iridium is only 3 tonnes. The name iridium comes from the Latin word for rainbow ‘Iris’, due to its highly coloured salts. This powder he then tested by using a combination of acid and alkali treatments, eventually separating into two new metals which he called osmium and iridium. He came across it whilst analysing a specimen of crude platinum, which when dissolved in dilute aqua regia did not all go into solution, with some remaining as a powder. Indeed, the metal’s presence within the Earth could have only originated from space.Īn Englishman, Smithson Tennant, is credited with the discovery of iridium. Iridium has been implicated as a factor in the extinction of life 65 million years ago, as its abundance is far higher in meteorites than within the Earth’s crust. Iridium is unaffected by air, water and acids, and the only two substances that will dissolve it are molten sodium cyanide and potassium cyanide. It is one of the hardest and most corrosion resistant metals known, and is the 2nd most dense metal after osmium, being 20 times denser than water. Iridium, along with the likes of platinum, is considered a precious metal. It is the 84th most abundant element within the Earth’s crust, meaning it is very rare. Iridium is a hard, brittle, lustrous, silvery metal belonging to Group 9 of the Periodic Table.