From Arsenic to Zirconium

RHENIUM, Re

DENTS DIAMOND’S PRIDE

“Discovered last (though seen before!), I’m über-dense ’n’ -rare,

I’ve loads of oxidation states!” hear proud Re declare.

“My hard diboride’s rarely matched,

Dents diamond’s pride and leaves it scratched!

I help those single-crystal blades keep planes up in the air!”

“Discovered last (though seen before!), I’m über-dense ’n’ -rare,

GROUP 7 TRANSITION METAL

Rhenium—the very rare¹⁴ and very dense¹⁵ row 6 transition metal—was the last of the stable, naturally occurring, non-radioactive elements to be discovered. In 1925, German scientists Walter Noddack (1893–1960) and Ida Tacke (1896–1978) isolated the element, ...