Ir Iridium – Element Information, Facts, Properties, Trends,Uses, Comparison with other elements

Iridium History

The element Iridium was discovered by Smithson Tennant in year 1803 in France and United Kingdom . Iridium derived its name from Iris, the Greek goddess of the rainbow

Iridium Presence: Abundance in Nature and Around Us

The table below shows the abundance of Iridium in Universe, Sun, Meteorites, Earth's Crust, Oceans and Human Body.

Crystal Structure of Iridium

The solid state structure of Iridium is Face Centered Cubic.

The Crystal structure can be described in terms of its unit Cell. The unit Cells repeats itself in three dimensional space to form the structure.

Unit Cell Parameters

The unit cell is represented in terms of its lattice parameters, which are the lengths of the cell edges Lattice Constants (a, b and c)

and the angles between them Lattice Angles (alpha, beta and gamma).

The positions of the atoms inside the unit cell are described by the set of atomic positions ( x_i, y_i, z_i) measured from a reference lattice point.

The symmetry properties of the crystal are described by the concept of space groups. All possible symmetric arrangements of particles in three-dimensional space are described by the 230 space groups (219 distinct types, or 230 if chiral copies are considered distinct.

Space Group Name	Fm_ 3m
Space Group Number	225
Crystal Structure	Face Centered Cubic

Iridium Atomic and Orbital Properties

Iridium atoms have 77 electrons and the electronic shell structure is [2, 8, 18, 32, 15, 2] with Atomic Term Symbol (Quantum Numbers) ⁴F_9/2.

Atomic Number	77
Number of Electrons (with no charge)	77
Number of Protons	77
Mass Number	192
Number of Neutrons	115
Shell structure (Electrons per energy level)	[2, 8, 18, 32, 15, 2]
Electron Configuration	[Xe] 4f14 5d7 6s2
Valence Electrons	5d7 6s2
Oxidation State	-3;-1 1;2;3;4;5;6;7;8;9
Atomic Term Symbol (Quantum Numbers)	4F9/2

Shell Structure of Iridium - Electrons per energy level

n		s	p	d	f
1	K	2
2	L	2	6
3	M	2	6	10
4	N	2	6	10	14
5	O	2	6	7
6	P	2

Ground State Electronic Configuration of Iridium - neutral Iridium atom

The ground state electronic configuration of Neutral Iridium atom is [Xe] 4f14 5d7 6s2. The portion of Iridium configuration that is equivalent to the noble gas of the preceding period, is abbreviated as [Xe]. For atoms with many electrons, this notation can become lengthy and so an abbreviated notation is used.This is important as it is the Valence electrons 4f14 5d7 6s2, electrons in the outermost shell that determine the chemical properties of the element.

Unabbreviated electronic configuration of neutral Iridium

Complete ground state electronic configuration for the Iridium atom, Unabbreviated electronic configuration

1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p6 4d10 5s2 5p6 4f14 5d7 6s2

Atomic Structure of Iridium

Iridium atomic radius is 180 pm, while it's covalent radius is 137 pm.

Atomic Spectrum of Iridium

Iridium Chemical Properties: Iridium Ionization Energies and electron affinity

The electron affinity of Iridium is 151 kJ/mol

Ionization Energy of Iridium

Refer to table below for Ionization energies of Iridium

Iridium Physical Properties

Refer to below table for Iridium Physical Properties

Elastic Properties

Hardness of Iridium - Tests to Measure of Hardness of Element

Iridium Electrical Properties

Iridium is Conductor of electricity. Refer to table below for the Electrical properties of Iridium

Iridium Heat and Conduction Properties

Iridium Magnetic Properties

Optical Properties of Iridium

Acoustic Properties of Iridium

Iridium Thermal Properties - Enthalpies and thermodynamics

Refer to table below for Thermal properties of Iridium

Enthalpies of Iridium

Iridium Isotopes - Nuclear Properties of Iridium

Isotopes of rhodium. Naturally occurring Iridium has 2 stable isotope - 191Ir, 193Ir.

Regulatory and Health - Health and Safety Parameters and Guidelines

Database Search

List of unique identifiers to search the element in various chemical registry databases