Yesterday on Yulia Latynina’s program I heard a story about a divorce with osmium-187.
Oh, how beautiful, just “let the song flow in the open air.”
I think this is one of the most elegant scams I've heard of.
I’m not afraid to use the now fashionable word - innovative scam.
Below the cut is an excerpt with a story about the divorce itself.

Now the United Russia party and the organizers of the competition claim that Petrik has nothing to do with this program. But let me remind you that earlier it was Gryzlov and Petrik who asked for 15 trillion rubles for this matter. And who is Petrik, especially for a country that... How is it there? Skolkovo, nanotechnology. Apparently, Petrik will sit with us in Skolkovo. This is a swindler in the most literal sense of the word, because under Soviet rule he received exactly his sentence under this article, a long one. Freed. He was mainly engaged in buying up inventions of various defense institutes.

For example, imagine that Petrik showed everyone fairings made of artificial spinel, a fairing for rockets. Those. it is transparent, it sits on the rocket, there is some kind of guidance head under it, everything is visible through it. And they went everywhere and said that Petrik did it. Imagine how the scientists from the State Optical Institute, who actually made these fairings, felt, who knew that only defective specimens were in the hands of various people who traded them.

There were many stories like this. But the most remarkable story, which, in my opinion, is the predecessor of “Clean Water” and explains why the highest officials of the state are involved in Petrik’s patronage, is the story of osmium-187. Before I talk about the history of osmium-187, I want to remind you that in St. Petersburg in the early 90s, this kind of semi-gangster scam was generally popular, when in all this self-generating economic soup, bandits heard that they could take out some kind of aluminum for a lot of money, copper, that there is a very big difference between the prices at which you buy internally and the prices at which you buy externally.

And the bandits also had strange ideas about reality. They always believed that there were some wonderful substances inside Russia that our defense industry created, that if you take them to the West, you will buy them for billions of dollars and get rich.

The first topic was some kind of alpha-fetoprotein. This is a biological substance that contributed to something there and was extracted from miscarriages. The inventor who made it, or allegedly made it, walked around in slippers on his bare feet, everyone who was not lazy stole from him - either bandits, or cops - and took away this alpha-fetoprotein.

But even if it helped in some way, it is clear that no one in the West bought it, because no Western pharmacological laboratory will buy from you an unknown substance that supposedly has miraculous properties without a certificate at all. What if they cooked it in the toilet at home and also spat in it? Then there was bee venom, then there was snake venom. It’s hard to say where there are snakes in St. Petersburg. But St. Petersburg bandits almost chartered planes to use this snake venom.

And the fourth on this wave was osmium-187, this is when in the early 90s an official of the St. Petersburg mayor’s office, Savenkov, was detained, who somewhere across the Finnish border in the left toe of his right shoe was carrying an ampoule containing 6 grams of the substance osmium-187 . He was detained. Why he was detained, who reported on him, this is very interesting. He did not have any documents to export this osmium. The FSB and all government agencies ran in and began to find out what kind of osmium it was and who needed it. It was needed much like alphafetoprotein.

What is osmium-187, which Petrik supposedly purified in the kitchen? There is a thing called the rhenium-osmium method for determining the age of a substance. The rhenium-osmium method is that there is rhenium, which has two isotopes, more or less stable, 185 and 187. 185 is completely stable, and 187 decays within 10 billion years, and decays into osmium-187, which is very convenient for dating. You take a piece of ore, see how much rhenium is in it, how much osmium-187 is in it, and you get a date.

And there is the Dzhezkazgan copper plant, whose dumps contain a lot of rhenium. Accordingly, the dumps of which, of all osmium isotopes, contain only osmium-187. Osmium has a lot of isotopes, and osmium-187 is indeed a very rare isotope, it occupies 1.6% of the total amount of osmium.

We must give Petrik his due - either he realized this, or it was suggested to him - indeed, by purely chemical means, from the dumps of the Dzhezkazgan copper plant, you can obtain not only osmium, namely osmium-187, because there is no other osmium there, because it is half-life product of rhenium.

The problem is that osmium-187 is not needed for anything. Those. not needed at all. There are no ways to use osmium, just as there are no ways to use many other expensive and well-known substances. At the prices of the Oak Ridge Laboratory, which generally dictates all prices for isotopes, osmium-187 is indeed very expensive. It costs 200 thousand dollars per gram, or 200 dollars per microgram. And it stands this way because all such isotopes, unnecessary isotopes, are obtained by the method of electromagnetic separation, when a purely chemical substance is divided into isotopes, and, accordingly, strips of the substance are deposited.

And the cost of isotopes in this case is directly proportional to the amount of money and effort spent on its isolation. And any isotope, of which there is very little, is therefore very expensive. The big problem is that he is expensive, but no one wants this elusive Joe because no one is looking for him. And the question is - you have a rare isotope, and it has a real price. But simply at this price no one will ever buy it, because no one needs it. What to do?

And here we return to this story with the detention of Savenkov. Look at the kind of advertising being created for osmium-187, a completely unnecessary substance that has no industrial use, as part of the arrest of Savenkov. All government agencies, all journalists, the FSB, the St. Petersburg authorities themselves begin to run around and find out why this osmium is needed.

They are creating a gigantic advertisement for this osmium. Every St. Petersburg bandit and every St. Petersburg banker knows that it costs 200 thousand dollars a gram and this is a terribly interesting thing. And even Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin himself - attention: Vladimir Putin - who then works in the St. Petersburg mayor’s office, gives an interview on March 17, 1994 to the newspaper “Evening Petersburg”, when he says that this is a very important and necessary invention for the city, osmium-187.

“The inventions created in the course of this work,” I quote Putin, “are patented, i.e. protected by law. I met with the inventor (for obvious reasons I do not mention his name) and discussed with him all the difficulties that had arisen. The scientist is ready to realize his discoveries…”, within the framework of the joint-stock company that Savenkov initially proposed to create.

And everyone is discussing whether the osmium was exported correctly or the osmium was exported incorrectly. And even Putin is participating in this advertising campaign for osmium-187. And no one asks the question - why is it needed?

What happens next? A letter comes to the Khlopin Radium Institute from abroad, which says: “Guys, we need 100 grams of osmium-187.” Imagine the early 90s. Or rather, this story with the radium institute, it happened even a little earlier, they coincided in time. A poor radium institute, scientists who put their teeth on the shelf.

And then they received this order from abroad. They run to the state reserve, they say: “Please give us 60 kilograms of pure osmium, we will isolate this damn isotope from it and sell it, because no one needs it anyway. Great, we’ll get fed.” After all, scientists at the Radium Institute - we must give them their due - did not realize that osmium could be obtained chemically from the dumps of the Dzhezkazgan copper plant.

They honestly followed the beaten path, they built a real centrifuge, calculated everything, the electromagnetic separation method is no longer profitable in such large quantities, they produced 100 grams of this osmium. Foreign customers have disappeared. They were left with osmium - and teeth on the shelf. 100 grams, supposedly 200 thousand dollars per gram.

What happens next? Our Russian customer already comes, some young guys, very good, they say: “Guys, we will buy this osmium from you.” How much do you think? Answer: “For 50 million dollars.” You think, what’s the hook? And these young guys say: “And osmium, it costs 200 thousand dollars per gram. Here you have 100 grams. We will pledge this osmium as collateral for a loan from a commercial bank of 200 million dollars, and after that we will pay you 50.” This is a brilliant story from the early 90s of St. Petersburg.

You can throw up your hands, because there is an undoubted knowledge of physics and human psychology (even more than knowledge of physics). I have absolutely no doubt that Mr. Petrik knows physics to the extent that he was known by medieval alchemists, who knew for sure that if you are brewing gold for a ruler and want to fool him, then you must put gold in hollow sticks, they They will burn, and you will take the gold out of the crucible.

But this is the story of the early 90s in St. Petersburg. And now this story, the same as with osmium-187, is being repeated with this very “Clean Water”, with filters for which there is a very serious question regarding the quality of cleaning. The Society of Russian Consumers, it seems, is even going to court now. And with filters, the manufacturing technology of which is nothing particularly new, this is a repetition of what happened in this small gangster Petersburg, lohast, in the early 90s.

And we see that the same people are participating. I, of course, understand that Vladimir Vladimirovich is no longer personally involved, if at all he participated in this osmium, if somehow this interview happened by chance. But all these people continue to be connected. And all these people, most likely, simply do not have the strength to resist Petrik. And it is paradoxical that a state that is not capable of extinguishing fires, is not capable of ensuring the safety of citizens, is not capable of providing protection from terrorism, it is capable of ensuring the prosperity of the inventor Victor Petrik.

Most people believe that there is nothing more expensive than gold, silver and platinum in the world. But in fact, there are several substances whose price per gram exceeds that of the three metals listed above. We will look at one of them today. This is osmium, the price for 1 gram in rubles will impress any person.

In 1803, the English chemist Smithson Tennant discovered Os, finding it in a precipitate that appeared after the scientist dissolved platinum in aqua regia. At the same time, experiments were carried out in France, where chemists Vauquelin and Antoine DeFourcroy also identified an unknown element in the sediment remaining from the dissolution of platinum ore. At first, the new element was called “pten” (translated from Greek as “winged”). But further research made it possible to determine that this is not one element, but a mixture of two - iridium and osmium.

The new substances were officially documented in Tenant's message to the Royal Club of London in June 1804.

Physical properties

The substance has a gray-bluish color. The metal is very brittle, but has a high specific gravity. When exposed to critical temperatures, it always retains its natural color and shine.

Since the metal is hard and has a high melting point (3033 degrees Celsius), it is difficult to machine.

Chemical properties

The substance in powder form, when heated, reacts well with oxygen, sulfur elements, selenium, and phosphorus. Slowly interacts with aqua regia.

The metal is one of several substances that form cluster compounds.

Where is it mined?

Iridium osmide is mined in Siberia and the Urals in Russia; in Alaska and California in the USA; Australia (and the island of Tasmania); South African state. The last country on the list boasts the largest metal deposits on the planet.

More often found in combination with arsenic and sulfur. The amount of substance in ores is insignificant.

Osmium cost

The cost of one gram of this substance is 15-200 thousand dollars. The market price of the metal is several times lower. This high cost is due to the low level of Os production. It is simply not used on a large scale due to its enormous density. If we make a comparison: a half-liter bottle with the substance in question will be heavier than 12 liters of water. Osmium is one of the three most expensive metals in the world. Only Californian is more expensive, its production is less than a gram per year.

The metal in question is very difficult to mine, and the process takes more than 9 months. The substance is an isotope and has the appearance of a black powder consisting of small crystals. Although osmium is the densest substance on our planet, it is very fragile. The smell of the metal immediately resembles bleach and garlic. That is why it received such a name (stands for “smell”).

The metal is indispensable in scientific, medical and research activities, as it is a chemical catalyst and is used in the production of measuring instruments that provide data of the highest accuracy.

The only state that sells osmium is Kazakhstan.

Other facts

The metal melts at temperatures above 3000 degrees Celsius. The boiling point reaches almost 6000 degrees.

It was opened in a rather unusual way. Several substances were diluted in aqua regia and it was discovered that a precipitate had formed that had a not very pleasant odor.

Os is not used for making jewelry, since it does not have malleability and ductility - those properties for which jewelers value precious metals so much.

The substance is found in ore deposits. It can also be found in meteorites that have fallen to Earth. Some industries are in dire need of metal to make their products. It goes to them as secondary raw material, but it is still not cheap.

Metal is used only because of its incredible strength. Alloys to which osmium is added become incredibly wear-resistant. It only takes minimal doses of the substance to add to the alloy to make it very strong.

Where is it used?

Osmium isotope is used to make containers for storing nuclear waste. The substance is also used in the space industry. It also accelerates the synthesis of ammonia and organic matter. By the way, tungsten filaments contain the described metal.

Since the substance is famous for its strength, it is used in the manufacture of weapons. But recently, industry has been trying to abandon the use of metal, due to its high cost and difficult processing.

Metal is used only in cases where success is 100% guaranteed.

Osmium oxide is used for medical purposes and in biology. Many implants and pacemakers are made with the help of the substance in question. The latter are made from platinum, which contains 10% osmium.

Fountain pens are often produced with tips made of the metal in question. Such products are more durable than samples with gold ends.

Interesting! If you make an alloy of osmium with aluminum, it will be incredibly ductile. It can be pulled out several times without any tearing of the substance.

When the pressure is above 770 GPa, electrons located in the inner orbitals will interact in osmium, but the structure of the metal will not change at all.

Methods for obtaining the substance

Osmium is most often stored in powder form. In this form, the metal easily reacts and can be heat treated without any difficulties. Os does not melt and cannot be branded if the metal is in its pure form.

Using electron (sometimes arc) rays, metal is produced into ingots. Single crystals are created using zone melting. But this manufacturing method is very expensive, and therefore the price of the created products is high. But there are unique people who know how to create crystals from powder. This is a long and complex process that requires a lot of energy, but there are still results.

It was previously said that osmium has an unpleasant odor. The substance tetroxide is widely used in medicine. It is jokingly called “beautiful and fragrant.” Tetroxide crystals can be made at home, but be careful as the substance is toxic.

For example, to kill a mouse with tetroxide, 40 times less of this substance is required than hydrocyanic acid (considered a recognized poison against rodents). This damaging effect is explained by the fact that, upon entering the body, the substance instantly becomes metallic. This causes damage to the respiratory tract and vision. But despite this, OsO4 is widely used as a dye in the chemical industry.

How does Os affect the body of living beings?

The element is very harmful and toxic to biological beings. When osmium is inhaled, the lungs fail (swelling occurs), and the living creature develops anemia.

When even a small amount of the substance is in the air, an individual experiences tearing, pain in the eyes, and conjunctivitis may develop.

It becomes difficult to breathe, spasms in the bronchi and a metallic taste in the mouth appear. If a person is not removed from the affected area in time, he or she faces the risk of blindness, disruption of the kidneys, nervous system, and gastrointestinal tract. Possible death.

Metal also affects the integrity of the skin. It turns black or green. Ulcers and blisters appear on it. The tissue begins to die.

You can be poisoned by osmium at work if the amount of this substance in the air is slightly exceeded. In many modern production facilities, osmium is present in the air, although, according to experts, its concentration in the air should not be present at all.

	Au	Pt	Ag	Pd
12,86	40,23	30,29	0,55	24,88

Table 1 - osmium price (1 g) in comparison with other precious metals (market).

Conclusion

Although osmium is considered one of the most expensive metals on the planet, its market price is not so high. For example, 1 gram of gold can be bought for 2000-2500 rubles. While osmium costs about 1800 rubles per gram.

The cost of osmium varies everywhere, but only Kazakhstan sells it at the cheapest non-market price. The fact is that not only osmium, but also its isotope (osmium 187) is traded on the world market. It is the second one that has a fabulous cost, due to the difficulty of processing, separation from other isotopes and limited use.

Now it’s clear how much osmium 187 and regular Os cost at the market price. Ordinary Os is a mixture of isotopes.

Most of the population is aware that gold and platinum are the most expensive metals. The price of osmium per 1 gram, which belongs to the platinum group, is inferior in value to gold.

Why is osmium so expensive?

Every year about 2,600 tons of gold and some amount of platinum are mined in the world. Moreover, according to statistics, every year the volume of precious metals production increases by 1.5%. Meanwhile, only 600 kg of osmium is mined, this is due to the fact that it is very difficult to find in nature. And it is not found in its pure form. And they are mined by piercing from platinum group metals. That is why one gram costs about 12-15 USD or 800-900 rubles in 2019. Mining osmium involves many difficulties. Firstly, its content in the earth’s crust is negligible and, on top of everything else, it is scattered across the earth. The complexity of extraction, and the resulting high cost, limit the use of osmium in industry and therefore it is used where the economic effect of use exceeds the costs incurred for extraction and processing.

Osmium is found in fragments of meteorites that fell on our planet at different times. But most often it is mined in mines. You can often find a material such as iridium nearby. The amount of osmium produced is really negligible and to meet the needs of various industries it is necessary to use secondary metal.

One of the major exporters of this metal is the Republic of Kazakhstan. According to unconfirmed information, the price of one gram mined in this country is about 10,000 US dollars. But these are just rumors, since the price of metal per ounce is a trade secret. The size of the cost of the metal makes one think about the feasibility of its mass use in industry, medicine and biology.

Place in the periodic table and basic properties

The metal, designated Os, is located in cell number 76. The closest neighbors are rhenium and iridium. Under normal conditions, the substance has a silvery-white color.

Osmium has a number of unique properties. For example, the density is 22.6 grams per cubic centimeter. In this regard, it has surpassed iridium. A metal found in nature consists of several isotopes that are practically impossible to separate. The most commonly used isotope is index 187.

The temperature at which osmium changes its state of aggregation and turns into a liquid state is 3,027 ºC. The material begins to boil when it reaches 5500 ºC. The high density made the metal highly brittle.

Features of extraction and application

Despite its high cost, osmium is not used to make jewelry. The reason for this is poor machinability. It is almost impossible to machine it. In addition, we must remember about refractoriness and fragility.

Among the isotopes of a rather rare metal, there is number 187. It is this that is used in the construction of space technology. In addition, nuclear weapons could not do without it. Used to create electronic equipment that is involved in controlling missile weapons. By the way, they are also used in the construction of nuclear waste storage facilities.

Application of osmium in various industries

As noted above, this is one of the few materials that has a high density; for example, a bucket of water will weigh lighter than a half-liter bottle filled with this metal. Meanwhile, this property - hardness - is practically not in demand, in contrast to its other property - hardness.

Osmium is used as an additive to produce many alloys. Even a small addition of metal gives the alloys incredible wear resistance. An alloy with the addition of this material can last much longer than others. In addition, alloys with the addition of osmium have increased mechanical strength and high resistance to corrosion. As a consequence of this property, osmium and alloys are used to reduce friction in various components. An alloy of osmium and iridium is used in the production of superhard alloys for various industries.

Due to the indicated properties, osmium is used in the manufacture of measuring equipment intended for carrying out measurements with high accuracy.

By the way, osmium is used in the production of automatic pens. This is why pens can write for years without being worn out.

Another property of a rare metal is that it is not magnetic. And this was the reason for its use in watch mechanisms and mechanical navigation devices (compasses).

The metal is used as a catalyst in the production of ammonia and organic compounds. In addition, the production of catalysts with methanol fuel cells cannot be done without it.

Not so long ago, an alloy of tungsten with osmium was used to produce incandescent lamp filaments. This alloy is called Osram.

Microscopy is also not without rare metal. It is used to operate electron microscopes.

In medicine, osmium and its oxides are used in surgical implants and cardiac stimulators and in replacing valves in the lungs. However, osmium tetroxide is a strong toxin and is practically not used in any industry.

In fact, osmium in its pure form is rarely used in practice. Its compounds, for example, oxides, are used much more often.

Storage Features

Ready osmium is stored in powder form. Since in the form of crystals it does not melt and cannot be processed in any way, it cannot even be branded. Radiation heating is used to produce metal ingots. But there are methods for producing crystals from powder material, for example, crucible heating.

A little history

Osmium as an element was discovered at the beginning of the twentieth century by English scientists. They conducted experiments on dissolving platinum in aqua regia. This is a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acid, which is capable of dissolving metals without residue.

During the experiments, a precipitate appeared that was thoroughly examined. As a result, a mixture of osmium and iridium was found. By the way, similar work was carried out in France.

It is not gold or platinum that are the most expensive metals from D.I. Mendeleev’s table, but osmium metal. This is a rare and expensive metal of silver-white color with a gray tint of blue tint. Chemists consider this metal to be noble, belonging to the platinum group.

Consists of several isotopes. They are very difficult to separate, which is reflected in the cost. The most popular isotope is Osmium-187.

It is assumed that 0.5% of the mass of the earth's crust consists of osmium, and it is located in the core. The proportion between size and weight is surprising. A kilogram of the compound is comparable in size to the average size of a chicken egg. A 0.5 liter container filled with osmium powder weighs more than 15 kg. But the desire to cast dumbbells from such a convenient material in terms of size/weight ratio immediately disappears not only because of the price of the powder, for some this is not a problem, but because of its extreme rarity and inaccessibility.

You won’t be able to find ingots in forests, mountains, or reservoirs. So far not a single nugget has been found. It is mined at ore deposits in composition with iridium, platinum, platinum-palladium ore, copper and nickel ores. But the osmium content in it is 0.001%. And it is also found in meteorites. True, isotopes separate from them after more than 9 months. Therefore, industrial production using osmium uses secondary raw materials, which is not much cheaper.

The total production of the heaviest metal per year throughout the world is several tens of kilograms. But the extraction of platinum, where osmium is present and is simultaneously extracted, is increasing. The figures are already 200 kg per year. So, the task arises not so much to look for osmium, but to find a cheaper way to separate it from its “neighbors.”

The Norilsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine has achieved some success in this task. We obtained pure metal from copper-nickel ores. Its amount on the planet is 0.000005% of the total mass of rocks. But in Russia there is. And in Kazakhstan. And the main reserves are located in Tasmania, America, and Australia. The largest are concentrated in South Africa. She dictates prices.

History of discovery and natural properties

In 1803-1804 in England, when conducting experiments on platinum with aqua regia (a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid), in the resulting unknown precipitate, after dissolving the platinum, a sharp, unpleasant odor, reminiscent of chlorine, appeared. Thanks to this smell, the newly discovered metal got its name. True, in Greek. From the Greek “osmium” is translated as “smell”.

Formally, it is a noble metal because it is part of the platinum group. This is where true nobility ends. The properties of this metal, both chemical and physical, have not yet been fully studied. The physical characteristics were more or less clarified several years ago.

Osmium

Chemical properties	Physical properties
Insoluble in alkalis and acids	Externally, the crystals are hard and fragile, have a beautiful silvery shine with shades from gray to blue. The ingots are dark blue, the powder is purple. And all with an amazing silver shine.
It does not react to the hellish mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids - the only metal on the planet.	The temperature of alloys is such that it is preferable to melt on the surface of the Sun.
Inert. It is possible to use osmium alloys and coatings in aggressive environments.	The highest toxicity does not allow the use of such beauty for making jewelry.
Extremely toxic, even in small doses. Especially the volatile osmium oxide released from platinum.	Extremely fragile. Not subject to mechanical processing.
Boils at a temperature of 5500°C, but not precisely determined - there are no calculations to verify	Infusibility. It softens only at temperatures above 3000 degrees C.
	Does not have magnetic properties.
	Amazing hardness. An alloy with the addition of osmium becomes more wear-resistant, durable, with increased resistance to corrosion and mechanical stress.
	The highest density is 22.61 g/cm3.

Price

The high cost is due to the limited quantity. Since it is scarce in nature and production is expensive, the market reacts accordingly. If we compare it with gold, it will be thousands of tons of gold versus several tens of kilograms of production. Hence the price - it starts from 15 thousand and reaches 200 thousand dollars per gram. On the world market, gold is 7.5 times cheaper.

Such figures indicate the unpopularity of the material for widespread use. Strength plays a major role in the use of this heavy metal in alloys. Products become incredibly wear-resistant due to the addition of very small portions of metal to the composition.

Application

Osmium is rarely used in widespread industrial production because of its high cost. But where the effect can exceed material costs, it is, of course, used. The raw material is most often in powder form. The metal itself is fragile and crumbles easily. Obtaining the powder is not difficult.

More use cases:

Not all osmium compounds are suitable for use. But scientists are working on it.

Danger and Safety

Like other heavy metals, osmium does not have the most beneficial effect on living organisms, including humans. Any compounds with osmium affect internal organs and cause loss of vision. Poisoning by vapors of the element can also lead to death. When observing the animals, a sharp development of anemia was observed, and the lungs stopped functioning. It is believed that this is a rapidly developing edema.

What is osmium tetroxide OsO4? And this is the very substance due to which the element bears its name. Extremely aggressive. Its smell cannot be ignored. There is no more terrible and disgusting smell in nature. In case of poisoning, the skin is also affected. The dermis turns green, turns black, and may even become dead. Blisters and ulcers may appear. Everything takes a very long time to heal.

The danger of poisoning primarily threatens workers in industrial premises at the slightest concentration of vapors in the air. Scientists no longer stutter about any acceptable standards. Therefore, the required special clothing and respirators are a common occurrence in industries using osmium oxide. Everything is sealed, the containers are sealed and stored in accordance with already proven rules.

If, for some unthinkable reason, an osmium compound gets into your eyes, you need to rinse them for a long time, about 20 minutes. Clean running water. And immediately see a doctor. When osmium vapor enters the body through the respiratory tract, it is neutralized by sodium bicarbonate. It is available in aerosol packaging. Lots of milk inside. And rinse your stomach.

The undoubted benefits of the heaviest metal

According to English scientists, this heavy metal blocks the development of cancer cells. Methods for the treatment of cancer using osmium, although very slowly, are already being developed.

In medicine, in cardiac stimulation, it is used in implants, the manufacture of which requires noble metals to prevent the development of allergies. The composition of the implant that replaces heart elements includes 10% osmium and 90% platinum. Of course, such devices are priced accordingly. The same proportion is used to make pulmonary valves.

The use of osmium compounds for medical needs is noticeable in the production of especially durable, long-lasting instruments, such as scalpels and all kinds of metal-ceramic incisors. And you need very little raw material for this, but the effect is amazing.

Microscopic additions of osmium to cutting grade steel make it possible to create extremely sharp blades.

Products, the use of which involves the use of the heaviest metal, turn out to be unsurpassed in wear resistance.

Commercial interest

The various amazing properties of the metal osmium arouse undoubted interest and genuine surprise. But these same properties kill commercial interest outright. And, despite everything, the price on the market does not fall.