• Question: What are the qualities of Ruthenium?

    Asked by wizzyg12 to Rob, Matt, Claire on 21 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Robert Woolfson

      Robert Woolfson answered on 21 Jun 2013:

      Ruthenium is part of what is called the platinum group. This is a group of elements that all share similar qualities. Ruthenium is rare and very expensive because it’s hard to separate from the other platinum group metals.

      The main reason ruthenium is so interesting is that it is what is called a catalytically active metal. This means that ruthenium makes a lot of chemical reactions much more likely to happen. One of the main uses for ruthenium is to make platinum a much better electrical contact for high end applications. It’s also used in solar cells, and has a lot of very interesting physical properties that make it useful to test some ideas in chemistry and physics.

    • Photo: Matthew Pankhurst

      Matthew Pankhurst answered on 22 Jun 2013:

      We also use Ruthenium as part of the platinum group to measure geologic processes, like melting and crystallizing. More Ruthenium – more melting, because the Ruthenium prefers to be in a solid than a liquid in the earth… mostly…. all geologic rules have exceptions…

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