Page 94 - The Periodic Table Book

77

Ir Iridium

77
77 These rocks contain a State: Solid
115 Discovery: 1803
Transition Metals This metal layer of iridium-rich clay.
Forms

is 22 times as
dense as water.
Pure iridium crystals

Badlands National Parks,
South Dakota, USA

Willamette meteorite

This meteorite,
found in Oregon,
USA, contains just
0.00047% iridium.

Iridium is the rarest natural element on in meteorites and other space rocks. A layer
Earth: there is one iridium atom out of of iridium-rich clay is found in Earth’s crust
every billion atoms in Earth’s rocks. This all over the world, especially in the Badlands
dense metal can be found in its pure form in of South Dakota, USA. Scientists believe
nature as well as in other common ores that this small quantity of iridium in our planet’s
92 contain nickel and copper. Iridium is present crust was deposited by the dust from an

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