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What
the name means:
Osmium derives from the Greek word Osme,
meaning “stench”.
Who
identified
osmium? In 1803,
Smithson Tennant and William Hyde
Wollaston’s attempt to purify platinum for
commercial purposes led them to identify
four new elements present in the platinum
ore – palladium, rhodium, iridium and
osmium.
In order to purify
platinum the two chemists dissolved it in a
mixture of concentrated nitric acid and
concentrated hydrochloric acid in a 1:3
ratio (a mixture known as aqua regia).
There was a black residue remaining after
this process. They treated the residue with
acids and alkalis during a complex series
of reactions. This led them to the
identification of osmium (so named because
its oxide had a very unpleasant smell).
About osmium:
Osmium is a blue-grey solid that is found,
as the element, alloyed to platinum in its
ores. Osmium is quite rare with about the
same abundance as gold in the Earth’s
crust. It is extremely resistant to
corrosion and its density (mass divided by
volume) is twice that of the element lead.
Osmium is used in alloys to strengthen
other metals, such as platinum |
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