My Iridium Arrived OK

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DoChenRollingBearing

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Recently I sent off a check for $709.00 to preciousmetalpurchase.com for 1 toz of iridium sponge (powder). It arrived just fine by mail today.

Iridium (Ir) is the second heaviest of the elements (non-radioactive ones), coming in at about 22.5 gm/cc (platinum about 21.4, gold about 19.3). Iridium is a "platinum group metal" located between osmium and platinum on the Periodic Table.

My Ir is "60 mesh" sponge (fine powder) that is medium-to-dark in color. It does not seem too heavy, not like the blob of osmium I bought some time ago (elementsales.com), where the blob is notably heavy. I will open it up (breaking the seal, so not be able to send it back w/out an assay) to check the stuff out, especially if I can find some hydrochloric acid (which it should not dissolve in).

WIKIPEDIA has good articles on all of the elements! Including Hassium (Atomic No. 108) which has a density of an impressive density of 40.7 (estimated, as the longest living isotope is maybe ten seconds -- depending on whose number you accept). All of those Pt-Group elements all have interesting properties (ah, for anyone into science anyway).

So while my Ir is not as cool to look at as my blob of Os, it is in the form most used by industry. And if I really want a blob (the color, I read, would be slightly yellow-ish, similar to osmium being slightly blue-ish), I can always get it from elementsales, but for $950 or so.

***

World use of iridium is about 198,000 oz per year. It is used in applications that need a hard (but resistant to chemical attack) metal as well as being able to tolerate high temperatures. Spark plugs. Crucibles for growing certain crystals for semiconductors.

So, howza 'bout it guys? Do we want try to to "corner the market"? :)
 
DoChenRollerBearing-HuntBrothers, congrats on the new acquisition, and it would only take a measly $140 million to buy up a year's supply of iridium.

I would go in with you 50:50 to corner, but I would need to raise about another $69,999,000.

Better yet, you should really consider investing in some blobs of Unobtanium. :) ;)

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Unobtanium looks a lot like shards of Krypton.
 
Unobtanium looks a lot like shards of Krypton.

You are lucky to even get that pic. I'm temporarily out of stock of Unobtanium right now due to very high demand, and I was having a very hard time finding a picture of said blob of Unob. Amazingly Unob has characteristics very similar to, but much superior than, Kryptonite, and fortunately poses no ill effects to Superman.

Or, I could just post a pic of myself. Don't know how that stupid watermark got on my picture.:

Sorry DoChenHuntBrothers for the off topic tangent.

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Unobtanium!

My osmium pellet looks just like the one in your photo, note the slightest blue tint.

My Ir is fine kind-of dark gray powder.

Yeah, re cornering the market on Ir, let me raise some more money and check with my wife. Next week maybe?

:)
 
Next week sounds great DoChen, I am sure your wife will agree this is a very good move. I should have the 69Mil and change by then.
 
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