{"id":591,"date":"2018-12-03T16:27:11","date_gmt":"2018-12-03T16:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/periodic-table.com\/?p=591"},"modified":"2018-12-03T16:27:11","modified_gmt":"2018-12-03T16:27:11","slug":"ruthenium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/periodic-table.com\/ruthenium\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruthenium"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ruthenium was discovered in 1884 and is member of the platinum family. It is a rare metal and widely in electrical industry and in making alloys.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

History and Discovery<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Like other six members of the platinum-group, ruthenium has been known since pre-Columbian American time. It was used by European chemist in mid-16th<\/sup> to 18th<\/sup> century. \u00a0Ruthenium was discovered by Karl Ernst Claus, a Russian scientist, in 1884 [1]. The was a member of Russian Academy of Science and discovered the element at Kazan State University in Russia. The element was named after the Latin name of Claus\u2019s homeland, Ruthenia<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Ruthenium<\/h3><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Periodic Table Classification<\/th>Group 8
\nPeriod 5<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
State at 20C<\/td>Solid<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Color<\/td>Silvery white metallic<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Electron Configuration<\/td>[Kr] 4d7 5s1
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Electron Number<\/td>44<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Proton Number<\/td>44<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Electron Shell<\/td>2, 8, 18, 15, 1
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Density<\/td>12.37 g.cm-3 at 20\u00b0C<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Atomic number<\/td>44<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Atomic Mass<\/td>101.07 g.mol -1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Electronegativity according to Pauling<\/td>2.20<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Occurrence<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Ruthenium is a rare metal. It is ranked as the seventy-fourth most abundant element and is present around 100 parts per trillion in the Earth\u2019s crust. The elemental or free form of ruthenium is very rare. Mostly, ruthenium is present in minerals and ores, especially with platinum, in minute amounts. Each year around 12 tons of ruthenium are extracted and the estimated reserves of ruthenium in the world are about 5000 tons [2]. Commercially, ruthenium is extracted as a by-product during the smelting process of ores of platinum, copper and nickel. \u00a0The largest reservoirs of ruthenium are in South Africa, Canada and USA [3].<\/p>\n

Physical Characteristics<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Ruthenium is a whitish silver transition metal. It belongs to the platinum group of metals and in the 8th<\/sup> group of periodic table. Unlike the other members of the group that have two electrons in their outmost shell, ruthenium has only one valence electron. Ruthenium is resistant to tarnishing by air until exposed to high temperatures.<\/p>\n

Chemical Characteristics<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Ruthenium is a fairly inert metal as it does not react with most of the elements of the periodic table. It is resistant to attack by acids; however, it dissolves in mixture of alkalis. Ruthenium also reacts with halogens at high temperatures. The most common oxidation states of ruthenium are +2, +3 and +4, however, the compounds of ruthenium can exist in a long range of oxidation state, -2 and from 0 to +8. Ruthenium is oxidized to form ruthenium oxide and is further oxidized to form ruthenium tetroxide, which is a volatile and strong oxidizing agent. Oxide of ruthenium resemble osmium tetroxide. With chalcogens, ruthenium forms dichalcogenides, which have properties of diamagnetic semiconductors. Ruthenium reacts with halogens, and forms ruthenium halides, such as ruthenium reacts with fluorine to form hexafluoride, pentafluoride and tetrafluoride and form ruthenium trichloride with chlorine.<\/p>\n

Significance and Uses<\/strong><\/h3>\n