Ruthenium is a rare, silvery-white, transition metal with the symbol Ru and atomic number 44. It's part of the platinum group of metals, which also includes platinum, palladium, rhodium, osmium, and iridium.
Properties:
- Appearance: A shiny, solid, metallic element that's opaque and doesn't tarnish at room temperature
- Hardness: 6.5 on the Mohs scale
- Density: 12.438 g/cm3
- Reactivity: Unreactive to most chemicals
Uses:
- Electrical contacts: Alloyed with platinum to make electrical contacts
- Catalyst: Used as a catalyst in many oxidation reactions
- Hardener: Used as a hardener for platinum and palladium
- Eye melanoma treatment: Ruthenium-106 is used to treat eye melanomas
Discovery:
- Discovered in 1844 by Karl Ernst Claus
- Named after the Latin name for Russia
Origin:
- Found in the Earth's crust in trace amounts, estimated at 0.001 parts per million
- Found in copper-nickel sulfide ores and as a byproduct of nickel mining
- Mined in North and South America and some parts of South Africa
