Densest Element on Earth

opair

OMG Member
Aug 1, 2017
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Hi everyone,
I just wanted to stop by and share an interesting fact with you all. As someone who is extremely interested in geology, physics and chemistry, I'm also a huge nerd on elements. And just now I have found a really interesting article on the hardest metals on earth. And it says that the element Osmium is the densest element on earth (Source here). So I did some research and found out even more about this strange element's density:

Osmium has a blue-gray tint and is the densest stable element, approximately twice the density of leadand slightly denser than iridium.Calculations of density from the X-ray diffraction data may produce the most reliable data for these elements, giving a value of 22.562±0.009 g/cm3 for iridium versus 22.587±0.009 g/cm3 for osmium. (Source)
Furthermore, Osmium is very toxic which is why it's rarely ever used in its pure state. However, some companies use it for fingerprint detection. Who would have thought!