Iridium facts for kids

A small foil of Iridium

Iridium is the 77th element on the periodic table. Its symbol is Ir. Ir's atomic number(the amount of protons) is 77.

Iridium is a metal. Like other metals in the platinum group, Iridium is a rare and expensive "noble metal" and is a transition metal. It looks like platinum and is found in asteroids and comets. Iridium deposits are used to identify relative dates of collisions of foreign bodies. Iridium can fold and bend just like aluminum, and remains very shiny. Most iridium is found in the Americas, though some is mined in Myanmar, South Africa, and Russia. Iridium melts at 2410 °C, and boils at 4130 °C. It is the most corrosion resistant metal.

Iridium is not needed in the body.

A man named Smithson Tennant first found it in the year 1803. Smithson Tennant found it in the remains when he left crude platinum in a mixture of hydrochloric acid and nitric acid.

Images for kids

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  One troy ounce (31.1035 grams) of arc-melted iridium

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  Vaska's complex

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  The Greek goddess Iris, after whom iridium was named.

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  The Willamette Meteorite, the sixth-largest meteorite found in the world, has 4.7 ppm iridium.

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  The red arrow points to the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary.

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  International Prototype Metre bar

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  Oxidative addition to hydrocarbons in organoiridium chemistry

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  Fountain pen nib labeled Iridium Point

See also

In Spanish: Iridio para niños