It can become a super conductor at temperature lower than 0.14K. Indium has very high boiling and melting points. In powdered form, iridium is highly flammable. Iridium is considered as the most corrosion-resistant metal and does not react with water or oxygen even at high temperatures. It is a significantly dense metal and is considered as the 2 nd densest element (22.56 g/cm 3). It is brittle solid at standard temperature and pressure. Iridium is a whitish silver transition metal. The annual production and consumption of iridium is only three tons. Some minerals of iridium have also been found, but they are quite rare, such as cuproiridsite and irarsite. Due to its low reactivity, iridium is found in its elemental form or in the form of natural alloys, including iridium-osmium alloys (idrosmine and osmiridium). Traces of iridium from core samples of Pacific Ocean and Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary support the hypothesis that massive meteorites showers led to extinction of dinosaurs around 66 million years ago. Iridium is an element of space and is more abundant on meteorites than in Earth’s crust and has an average abundance of 0.5 ppm. And is present in about 0.001 ppm in crustal rocks. The name iridium was given by Tennant after the Greek goddess Iris (Goddess of rainbow), as the newly discovered metal formed varying color compounds and salts. When platinum was dissolved in aqua regia, iridium appeared as dark insoluble residue, which was later identified as a new metal. Iridium was discovered as an impurity in platinum metal by Smithson Tennant in 1803. History and DiscoveryĪncient South Americans and Ethiopians have used platinum along with iridium. Iridium belongs to the platinum group of metals and is highly dense and resistant to corrosion.
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