Elements of

8TH GROUP

Elements of Group 8

Iron ( Fe )

Ruthenium
(Ru)

Osmonium
(Os)

Hassium ( Hs
)

IRON (FE)

Introduction

Iron is a lustrous, ductile, malleable, silver-gray metal

(group VIII of the periodic table). It is known to exist in
four distinct crystalline forms. Iron rusts in damp air, but
not in dry air. It dissolves readily in dilute acids. Iron is
chemically active and forms two major series of chemical
compounds, the bivalent iron (II), or ferrous, compounds
and the trivalent iron (III), or ferric, compounds.

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Atomic Number

26

Atomic Weight

55.845

Melting Point

1811 K (1538C or 2800F)

Boiling Point

3134 K (2861C or 5182F)

Density

7.874 grams per cubic

centimeter

Phase at Room Temperature

Solid

Element Classification

Metal

Period Number

Group Number

Group Name

none

Uses
In addition to helping build the world around us, iron helps keep
plants and animals alive. Iron plays a role in the creation of
chlorophyll in plants and is an essential part of hemoglobin, the
substance that carries oxygen within red blood cells. Iron sulfate
(FeSO4) is used to treat the blood disease anemia.
Ordinary carbon steel is an alloy of iron with carbon (from 0.1% for
mild steel up to 2% for high carbon steels), with small amounts of
other elements. Alloy steels are carbon steels with other additives
such as nickel and chromium. Non-corroding stainless steel
contains high levels of chromium and nickel.

Dangerous
Iron (III)-O-arsenite, pentahydrate may be hazardous to the
environment; special attention should be given to plants,
air and water. It is strongly advised not to let the chemical
enter into the environment because it persists in the
environment.

Reaction
Iron does not clearly alter in pure water or in dry air, but
when both water and oxygen are present (moist air),
iron corrodes. Its silvery colour changes to a reddishbrown, because hydrated oxides are formed. Dissolved
electrolytes accelerate the reaction mechanism, which
is as follows:
4Fe + 3O2 + 6H2O
4FeO(OH) + 4 H2O

4Fe3+ + 12OH-

4Fe(OH)3 or

HASSIUM (HS)

 Hassium is a chemical element with symbol Hs and atomic

number 108, named after the German state of Hesse. It is a
syntetic element (an element that can be created in a
laboratory but is not found in nature) and rradioactive; the
most stable known isotope, 269Hs, has a half-life of
approximately 9.7 seconds, although an unconfirmed
metastable state, 277Hs, may have a longer half-life of about
11 minutes. More than 100 atoms of hassium have been
synthesized to date.

Physical Properties
Atomic Number

108

Atomic Weight

270

Melting Point

Unknown

Boiling Point

Unknown

Density

Unknown

Phase at Room Temperature

Solid

Element Classification

Metal

Period Number

Group Number

Group Name

non

Uses

At present, it is only used in research.

Reaction

In 2004, scientists announced that they had

succeeded in carrying out the first acid-base
reaction with a hassium compound, forming
sodium hassate(VIII):

HsO4 + 2NaOH
Na2[HsO4(OH)]

RUTHENIUM
(RU)

 Ruthenium, together
withrhodium,palladium,osmium,iridium,
andplatinumform a group of elements referred to as
the platinum group metals (PGM).
Ruthenium is a hard, white metal. It does not tarnish at
room temperatures, but oxidises in air at about 800C.
The metal is not attacked by hot or cold acids or aqua
regia, but when potassium chlorate is added to the
solution, it oxidises explosively. It dissolved in molten
alkalis.

Physical properties
Atomic number

44

Atomic mass

101.1 g.mol-1

Electronegativity according to Pauling

2.2

Density

12.2 g.cm-3at 20C

Melting point

2250 C

Boiling point

4150 C

Vanderwaals radius

0.135 nm

Isotopes

11

Electronic shell

[ Kr ] 4d75s1

Energy of first ionisation

722.4 kJ.mol-1

Energy of second ionisation

1620 kJ.mol-1

Energy of third ionisation

2747 kJ.mol-1

Standard Potential

0.45 V

Discovered by

Karl Klaus in 1844

Reactions
Reaction with air
Ru(s)+ O2(g)RuO2(s)

Reaction with halogen

Ru(s)+ 3F2(g)RuF6(s)

Applications
In electronics , it used to be used mainly for electrical contacts but
most now goes into chip resistors.
In the chemical industry it is used in the anodes for chlorine production
in electrochemical cells.
The metal is used as a hardener forpalladiumandplatinumand added
in small amounts improves the corrosion resistance oftitaniumin.
It is used in electrical contact alloys and filaments, in jewelry, in pen
nibs, and in instrument pivots. It is also used in alloys
withcobalt,molybdenum,nickel,tungsten, and other metals.
Color ceramics and glass.
instance in the removal of H2S from oil refineries and from other
industrial processes
production of ammonia from natural gas,
production of acetic acid from methanol.
absorb light throughout the visible spectrum and are being actively
researched in various, potential, solar energy technologies.

Ruthenium in Environment
Ruthenium is one of the rarest metals on Earth.
Ruthenium is found as the free metal, sometimes
associated withplatinum,osmiumandiridium, in North
and South America and in South Africa. There are few
minerals, such as laurite, ruarsite and ruthenarsenite.
All are rare and none acts as a commercial source of the
metal. Ruthenium is also associated withnickeland
deposits (from which it is recovered commercially).
World production is 12 tonnes per year and reserves are
hestimated to be ariund 5.000 tonnes.

Effects
Health effects of
ruthenium
Stain the skin very strongly. It
seems that ingested ruthenium
is retained strongly in bones.
Ruthenium oxide, RuO4, is highly
toxic and volatile, and to be
avoided.
Rhutenium 106 is one of the
radionuclides involved in
atmospheric testing of nuclear
weapons, which began in 1945,
with a US test, and ended in 1980
with a Chinese test. It is among
the long-lived radionuclides that
have produced and will continue
to produce increased cancers risk
for decades and centuries to
come.

Environmental effects
of ruthenium

Very few data are available on ruthenium

impact on plants and estimates of its uptake
have deducted levels of 5 ppb or less,
although algae appear to concentrate it. No
negative environmental effects have been
reported.

OSMONIUM
(OS)

Introduction
Osmium discovered by Smithson Tennantin 1803.
The name is derived from the Greek word 'osme',
meaning smell.Osmium is a rare, lustrous, very hard,
brittle, bluish-white metal. It is the densest of all the
elements. Osmium is uneffected by water and acids,
but dissolves with molten alkalis. Osmium powder
reacts slowly with the oxygen of the air and gives off
detacteble amounts of osmium tetroxide vapour.

Physical properties

Reactions
Reaction of osmium with air
in air, finely divided osmium metal gives off a characteristic
smell of OsO4- bad news given that OsO 4is highly toxic.
Os(s) + 2O2(g) OsO4(s)

Reaction of osmium with the halogens

Osmium reacts with either chlorine, Cl2, or bromine,
Br2, with heating under pressure to form the
tetrahalides osmium(IV) chloride, OsCl 4, or osmium
(IV) bromide, OsBr4.
Os(s) + 2Cl2(g) OsCl4(s) (red)
Os(s) + 2Br2(l) OsBr4(s) (black)

 Osmium is principally used alloyed with other

metals in the platinum group to produce very
hard alloys. An alloy of 90% platinum and
10% osmium is used in surgical implants
such as pacemakers and replacement heart
valves. Osmium tetroxide is used in
microscopy as a stain for fatty tissue and in
fingerprint detection.

Health effects of osmium

Osmium tetroxide, OsO4, is highly toxic. Concentrations

in air as low as 10-7gm-3can cause lung congestion,
skin damage, and severe eye damage.

THE END