History
(L. iris: rainbow) Tennant discovered iridium in 1803 in the residue left when crude platinum is dissolved by aqua regia. The name iridium is appropriate because its salts are highly colored.
Properties
Iridium, a metal of the platinum family, is white (similar to platinum) but with a slight yellowish cast. Because iridium is very hard and brittle, it is hard to machine, form, or work.
It is the most corrosion-resistant metal known, and was used in making the standard meter bar of Paris, which is a 90 percent platinum and 10 percent iridium alloy. This meter bar was replaced in 1960 as a fundamental unit of length (see Krypton).
Iridium is not attacked by any of the acids nor by aqua regia, but is attacked by molten salts, such as NaCl and NaCN. The specific gravity of iridium is to osmium's specific gravity. Calculations of the densities of iridium and osmium from the space lattices give values of 22.65 and 22.61 g/cm3, respectively. These values may be more reliable than actual physical measurements for determining which element is heavier.
A Periodic Table of the Elements at Los Alamos National Laboratory |
