uranian
27th April 2010, 03:28 PM
The best performing metal of all over the past 5 years:
http://charts.infomine.com/multivariantcharts/showchart.aspx?mv=1&f=f&r=5y&c=ciridium.xusd.uoz,cgold.xusd.uoz,cpalladium.xusd .uoz
great charting tool for the more obscure metals here (http://www.infomine.com/investment/charts.aspx?mv=1&f=f&r=5y&c=ciridium.xusd.uoz,cgold.xusd.uoz,cpalladium.xusd .uoz#chart).
i know so little about iridium that i'll quote the wiki:
Iridium (pronounced /ɨˈrɪdiəm/, i-RID-ee-əm) is the chemical element with atomic number 77, and is represented by the symbol Ir. A very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum family, iridium is the second densest element (after osmium) and is the most corrosion-resistant metal, even at temperatures as high as 2000 °C. Although only certain molten salts and halogens are corrosive to solid iridium, finely divided iridium dust is much more reactive and can even be flammable. The most important iridium compounds in use are the salts and acids it forms with chlorine, though iridium also forms a number of organometallic compounds used in catalysis and in research. 191Ir and 193Ir are the only two naturally occurring isotopes of iridium as well as the only stable isotopes; the latter is the more abundant of the two.
Iridium was discovered in 1803 by Smithson Tennant in London, England, among insoluble impurities in natural platinum from South America. Although it is one of the rarest elements in the Earth's crust, with annual production and consumption of only three tonnes, it has a number of specialized industrial and scientific applications. Iridium is employed when high corrosion resistance at high temperatures is needed, as in spark plugs, crucibles for recrystallization of semiconductors at high temperatures, electrodes for the production of chlorine in the chloralkali process, and radioisotope thermoelectric generators used in unmanned spacecraft. Iridium compounds also find applications as catalysts for the production of acetic acid.
An unusually high abundance of iridium in a clay layer of the K–T geologic boundary was a crucial clue that led to the theory that the extinction of dinosaurs and many other species 65 million years ago was caused by the impact of a massive extraterrestrial object—the so-called Alvarez hypothesis. Iridium is found in meteorites with an abundance much higher than its average abundance in the Earth's crust. It is thought that the amount of iridium in the planet Earth is much higher than that observed in crustal rocks, but because of the high density and tendency of iridium to bond with iron, most iridium descended below the crust and into the Earth's core when the planet was young and still molten.
about 100,000 troy ounces are produced annually. Iridium (http://www.curiousnotions.com/home/metals.asp) is the densest known terrestrial substance at 22.65 grams/cm3. That’s twice the density of lead or 8 times that of granite. A cube of iridium 6 inches on a side (15 cm) would weigh as much as an average adult human.
http://charts.infomine.com/multivariantcharts/showchart.aspx?mv=1&f=f&r=5y&c=ciridium.xusd.uoz,cgold.xusd.uoz,cpalladium.xusd .uoz
great charting tool for the more obscure metals here (http://www.infomine.com/investment/charts.aspx?mv=1&f=f&r=5y&c=ciridium.xusd.uoz,cgold.xusd.uoz,cpalladium.xusd .uoz#chart).
i know so little about iridium that i'll quote the wiki:
Iridium (pronounced /ɨˈrɪdiəm/, i-RID-ee-əm) is the chemical element with atomic number 77, and is represented by the symbol Ir. A very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum family, iridium is the second densest element (after osmium) and is the most corrosion-resistant metal, even at temperatures as high as 2000 °C. Although only certain molten salts and halogens are corrosive to solid iridium, finely divided iridium dust is much more reactive and can even be flammable. The most important iridium compounds in use are the salts and acids it forms with chlorine, though iridium also forms a number of organometallic compounds used in catalysis and in research. 191Ir and 193Ir are the only two naturally occurring isotopes of iridium as well as the only stable isotopes; the latter is the more abundant of the two.
Iridium was discovered in 1803 by Smithson Tennant in London, England, among insoluble impurities in natural platinum from South America. Although it is one of the rarest elements in the Earth's crust, with annual production and consumption of only three tonnes, it has a number of specialized industrial and scientific applications. Iridium is employed when high corrosion resistance at high temperatures is needed, as in spark plugs, crucibles for recrystallization of semiconductors at high temperatures, electrodes for the production of chlorine in the chloralkali process, and radioisotope thermoelectric generators used in unmanned spacecraft. Iridium compounds also find applications as catalysts for the production of acetic acid.
An unusually high abundance of iridium in a clay layer of the K–T geologic boundary was a crucial clue that led to the theory that the extinction of dinosaurs and many other species 65 million years ago was caused by the impact of a massive extraterrestrial object—the so-called Alvarez hypothesis. Iridium is found in meteorites with an abundance much higher than its average abundance in the Earth's crust. It is thought that the amount of iridium in the planet Earth is much higher than that observed in crustal rocks, but because of the high density and tendency of iridium to bond with iron, most iridium descended below the crust and into the Earth's core when the planet was young and still molten.
about 100,000 troy ounces are produced annually. Iridium (http://www.curiousnotions.com/home/metals.asp) is the densest known terrestrial substance at 22.65 grams/cm3. That’s twice the density of lead or 8 times that of granite. A cube of iridium 6 inches on a side (15 cm) would weigh as much as an average adult human.