Ruthenium is a member of the group of six platinum metals which occur together in nature and is located in the center of the Periodic Table in the Iron-Cobalt-Nickel group:
Fe |
Co |
Ni |
Ruthenium |
Rh |
Pd |
Os |
Ir |
Pt |
Physical Properties
Ruthenium is a transition metal like the other members of the group. They are less reactive than the typical metals but more reactive than the less typical metals. The transition metals are characterized by having the outermost electron shell containing two electrons and the next inner shell an increasing number of electrons. Because of the small energy differences between the valence shells, a number of oxidation states occur.
Atomic number |
44 |
Atomic weight |
101.07 |
Relative abundance in the Earth’s crust |
1×10−6 |
Abundance of major natural isotopes |
101 (17.0%) |
102 (31.6%) |
|
104 (18.7%) |
|
Crystal structure |
Hexagonal closed packed |
Lattice constants at 20°C |
|
a, nm |
0.27058 |
c, nm |
0.42819 |
Atomic radius, nm |
0.133 |
Melting point, °C |
2,310 |
Boiling point, °C |
4,050 |
Specific heat... |
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Habashi F (2003) Metals from ores. An introduction to extractive metallurgy. Métallurgie Extractive Québec, Quebec City, Canada 2003. Distributed by Laval University Bookstore, www.zone.ul.ca
Renner H (1997) Platinum group metals. In: Habashi F (ed) Handbook of extractive metallurgy. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, pp 1269–1360
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Habashi, F. (2013). Ruthenium, Physical and Chemical Properties. In: Kretsinger, R.H., Uversky, V.N., Permyakov, E.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Metalloproteins. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1533-6_388
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1533-6_388
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-1532-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-1533-6
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences