RHENIUM

Ida tacke Noddack

Walter Noddack

Otto Berg

Who discovered it?

In 1925 at Germany

Properties

• Symbol: Re

• Atomic number: 75

• Atomic mass: 186.207

• State: Solid

• Color: Greyish white

• Melting point: 3186 oC

• Boiling point: 5596 oC

• Rhenium is a ductile, malleable, silvery metal. Ductile means capable of being drawn into thin wires. Malleable means capable of being hammered into thin sheets.

• Rhenium is a moderately stable metal. It does not react with oxygen and some acids very readily. But it does react with strong acids such as nitric acid (HNO 3 ) and sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ).

Occure In nature

• About a third of all rhenium used in the United States comes from copper and molybdenum ores in the Western states. It is obtained during the process of copper mining. Two-thirds are imported from other countries, primarily Chile, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The principal ores of rhenium are molybdenite, gadolinite, and columbite.

• Rhenium is one of the rarest elements in the world. Its abundance is thought to be about one part per billion.

Compound

• Fluorides• Rhenium hexafluoride: ReF6

• Rhenium tetrafluoride: ReF4

• Rhenium pentafluoride: ReF5

• Rhenium heptafluoride: ReF7

• Chlorides• Rhenium hexachloride: ReCl6• Rhenium tetrachloride: ReCl4• Rhenium pentachloride: ReCl5• Trirhenium nonachloride: [ReCl3]3

• Bromides• Rhenium tetrabromide: ReBr4

• Rhenium pentabromide: ReBr5

• Trirhenium nonabromide: [ReBr3]3

• Iodides• Rhenium tetraiodide: ReI4

• Trirhenium nonaiodide: [ReI3]3

• Oxides• Rhenium dioxide: ReO2

• Rhenium trioxide: ReO3

• Dirhenium trioxide: Re2O3

• Dirhenium heptoxide: Re2O7

• Sulfides• Rhenium disulphide: ReS2

• Dirhenium heptasulphide: Re2S7

• Selenides• none listed• Tellurides• Rhenium ditelluride: ReTe2

Reaction

• Reaction of rhenium with air

4Re(s) + 7O2(g) → 2Re2O7(s)

• Reaction of rhenium with water

Rhenium does not react with water under normal conditions.

• Reaction of rhenium with the halogens

• Re(s) + 3F2(g) → ReF6(s)

• 2Re(s) + 7F2(g) → 2ReF7(s)

• Reaction of rhenium with acids

• In similar fashion to technetium, immediately above rhenium in the periodic table, rhenium is insoluble in hydrochloric acid (HCl) and hydrofluoric acid (HF). It does dissolve in nitric acid, HNO3, or concentrated sulphuric acid, H2SO4, both of which are oxidizing, to form solutions of perrhenic acid, HReO4. In this form, the rhenium is in the formal +7 oxidation state.

WHAT IS IT USED FOR?

Rocket motor

Rhenium wire

OvenTurbines engines

FACTS:

May cause eye and skin irritation. Rhenium Liquid may cause burns to skin and eyes. May cause irritation of the digestive tract when ingested.

The usual commercialForm of the elment is powder

But it can also be found consolidatedIt can be bent, coiled or rolled.