Osmium - Tales from the Periodic Table

First and foremost, Osmium is the densest of all the elements at 22.59 grams per cubic centimeter. That's TWICE the density of Lead! Osmium is very rare, less common than Gold. It's recovered as a byproduct of mining Nickel, Copper, and Platinum. Because if its rarity and expense, there are few applications of Osmium. It's used in the pen nibs of fountain pens, and formerly phonograph needles (remember those?) Most Osmium today is used as a chemical catalyst, and a stain in electron microscopy.
Forgive my croaking through this episode After a week with only a bit of a voice because of laryngitis, I was up against my 1st-of-the-month release schedule and didn't want to disappoint with a late release. I decided a compromised vocal track was better than a late video!

[@DoubleMrE]

My old pal Osmium! 😊

[@greegearl1542]

Thank you for this exploration of Osmium. Happy new year!

[@ronhipschman]

Happy new year to you too! I barely got thin one out with a one week case of laryngitis! Ron

[@brfisher1123]

If only both osmium and iridium weren’t so darn expensive and rare as they would’ve made some much better radiation shielding materials than toxic lead due to their superior densities and low toxicities.

[@ronhipschman]

I believe that Osmium does slowly oxidize, producing Osmium tetroxide, so it's not entirely non-toxic, but you are right, they's be awesome for that job. Ron

[@sillysad3198]

i take ten times that of lead over Osmium in terms of workplace safety. i know how not to eat lead so i am fine with it.

[@Mace2124]

Only oxidizes to osmium tetroxide if it's powdered or sintered. Arc melted beads won't oxidize.

[@karlbergen6826]

I love the Periodic element videos. I can see you are celebrating the New Year with a video. Osmium, ruthenium and iron all the very stable hexacyano metal II complex. K4Fe(CN)6, K4Ru(CN)6 and K4Os(CN)6. These are all low spin d6 complexes. That was mentioned in an inorganic chemistry text I had 8n graduate school years ago. The alkali metal does not have to be potassium.

[@ronhipschman]

Thanks for adding that. Not being a chemist, it's great to learn all these additional tidbits! Ron

[@scibear9944]

Osmium is cheaper than gold for two reasons:1) It's a BYPRODUCT of other extraction processes, as mentioned. This means its extraction and production are essentially low cost and it would be considered a waste product if no uses were found for it. And 2) it doesn't have nearly the same number of applications, nor is it required in the same amounts, as gold. Compare this to irridium, rhodium, or palladium, with similar abundances, but much higher expense since their applications in industry, mostly as catalysts, are far greater.

[@waynesworldofsci-tech]

Oh yeah, phonograph needles! Heh. My parents had an old record player with a label on the back stating it had been converted from 25 to 60 cycle 120vac. Neat stuff. I love the detail in your explanations.

[@ronhipschman]

Sounds like it was brought in from Europe to the US. Ron

[@waynesworldofsci-tech]

@@ronhipschman Nope. Made in Canada, stayed in Canada.

[@sydhenderson6753]

Osmium tetroxide used to be used for staining fingerprints, which couldn't have been too healthy for detectives. They have much less toxic alternatives now.

[@ronhipschman]

Well, THAT never showed up in my researches! I'll have to look that application up. I know they use superglue to reveal fingerprints. I guess that makes sense since it binds to lipids. Ron

[@sydhenderson6753]

@@ronhipschman I've seen mentioned a few places, including "Nature's Building Blocks." It's similar to using osmium tetroxide for biological stains.

[@Gelatinocyte2]

14:53 where can I get this graph of elements sorted by atom size?

[@ronhipschman]

@Gelatinocyte2, You can get this graph (and MANY more!) here: periodictable.com/Properties/A/AtomicRadius.ssp.html Ron PS. Thank you Theodore Gray!

[@sillysad3198]

this OsO4 fascinates me in a weird way: can we create a gas that is heavier than a liquid at the same temp and pressure?

[@ronhipschman]

sillysad3198, Since a liquid typically take up a thousandth (or less) the space of a gas, I don't think it's possible to make a liquid float on the gas of the same substance. Please provide examples in case I missed something (always possible...). Ron

[@sillysad3198]

@@ronhipschman it is an open question. why same substance? the whole point is to float a light liquid on something as heavy as OsO4 gas (or perhaps there are heavier gases...)

[@ronhipschman]

OK... Let's put some constraints on this too. Let's say we want to do this at room temperature (STP). A little googling around led me to this: Densest gas: Tungsten Hexafluoride (WF6) with a density of .0124 gm/cm^3 Least dense liquid: 2-methyl butane, with a density of .6201 gn/cm^3 SO, sorry, the liquid is 50 times denser than the gas. I leave it an exercise for the reader to extend this exercise outside STP. Ron

[@sillysad3198]

you sounded so tragic: "there is no Os in us" as if you planned your entire life to harvest precious metals from humans.

[@ronhipschman]

Yes, I'm going to called "Soylent Osmium". Ron