My periodic table poster is now available! Ruthenium is the first of the noble metals, the group whose star members are gold and platinum. These metals are expensive, shiny, and often used in jewelry and lab ware. Ruthenium plated jewelry is fairly common, though of course not nearly as common as gold plated. Ruthenium items have a darker, pewter color compared to platings such as silver or rhodium. Compare at other websites: periodictable.com Wikipedia WebElements Museum Display Minerals Translations and Etymology Science Fiction (Main Site) Comics Collections: Minerals, Alloys, and Compounds Elements Popular in Collections Poster Samples Elements at Walmart Elements with External Samples Samples with Rotatable Images Samples with High Resolution Spin Movies Very fine powder (technically "sponge"). This is one of the finest powders I've seen: Very, very powdery. It's also a very unusual color, somehow. Lighter than most powders, in a chocolaty sort of way. Think coffee with a whole lot of milk in it, but less brown and more gray. And of course it's no doubt very pure. Source: David Franco Contributor: Ed Pegg Jr Acquired: 16 August, 2002 Price: $22 Size: 0.5" Purity: 99.99% Sample Group: Powders Sample from the RGB Set. The Red Green and Blue company in England sells a very nice element collection in several versions. Max Whitby, the director of the company, very kindly donated a complete set to the periodic table table. To learn more about the set you can visit my page about element collecting for a general description or the company's website which includes many photographs and pricing details. I have two photographs of each sample from the set: One taken by me and one from the company. You can see photographs of all the samples displayed in a periodic table format: my pictures or their pictures. Or you can see both side-by-side with bigger pictures in numerical order. The picture on the left was taken by me. Here is the company's version (there is some variation between sets, so the pictures sometimes show different variations of the samples): Source: Max Whitby of RGB Contributor: Max Whitby of RGB Acquired: 25 January, 2003 Text Updated: 11 August, 2007 Price: Donated Size: 0.2" Purity: 99.95% Sample from the Everest Set. Up until the early 1990's a company in Russia sold a periodic table collection with element samples. At some point their American distributor sold off the remaining stock to a man who is now selling them on eBay. The samples (except gases) weigh about 0.25 grams each, and the whole set comes in a very nice wooden box with a printed periodic table in the lid. To learn more about the set you can visit my page about element collecting for a general description and information about how to buy one, or you can see photographs of all the samples from the set displayed on my website in a periodic table layout or with bigger pictures in numerical order. Source: Rob Accurso Contributor: Rob Accurso Acquired: 7 February, 2003 Text Updated: 29 January, 2009 Price: Donated Size: 0.2" Purity: >99% Necklace with ruthenium beads. According to the eBay seller, the pewter-colored beads in this quite pretty necklace are made of solid ruthenium (not plated). Unfortunately, this is not the case. Analysis by x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy at the Center for Microanalysis of Materials, University of Illinois (partially supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under grant DEFG02-91-ER45439) indicates that they are copper-based with a thin plating of gold and ruthenium. So, on the plus side, they do contain ruthenium and are thus a legitimate sample of this element. But solid ruthenium would have been a lot cooler. From this experience I learned that ruthenium is a commonly used plating for costume jewelry, which means I can add it to the list of elements you can buy at Walmart. Source: eBay seller shiningjewel Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 14 February, 2003 Price: $45/necklace Size: 0.15" Purity: 99% Museum-grade sample. In early 2004 Max Whitby and I started selling individual element samples identical or similar to the samples we use in the museum displays we build. These are top-quality samples presented in attractive forms appropriate to the particular element. They are for sale from Max's website and also on eBay where you will find an ever-changing selection of samples (click the link to see the current listings). This bottle contains about 50 grams of arc-melted buttons made in Max's reduced-pressure argon-arc furnace. I chose this sample to represent its element in my Photographic Periodic Table Poster. The sample photograph includes text exactly as it appears in the poster, which you are encouraged to buy a copy of. Source: Theodore Gray Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 24 February, 2004 Text Updated: 11 August, 2007 Price: See Listing Size: 0.2" Purity: >99% Sample Group: RGB Samples Experimental solar cell. An experimental solar cell made with ruthenium at Imperial College. I don't know if they have fully thought through the ramifications of ruthenium being one of the more expensive of the metals. Source: Max Whitby of RGB Contributor: Max Whitby of RGB Acquired: 2 April, 2009 Text Updated: 3 April, 2009 Price: Donated Size: 1.5" Purity: <5% Ruthenium plated ring. Ruthenium plating is used to give a dull gray, pewter-like finish to cheap jewelry. Source: eBay seller stephanieutz Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 17 April, 2009 Text Updated: 17 April, 2009 Price: $24 Size: 1" Purity: <1% Ruthenium resistors. These are tiny, tiny resistors meant to be mounted on miniaturized circuit boards. Source: eBay seller gedeon-qc Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 17 October, 2009 Text Updated: 18 October, 2009 Price: $4 Size: 0.1" Purity: <10% Ruthenium Chloride, 99.999%. American Elements is a chemical supplier with a wonderfully refreshing attitude towards element collectors: They actually like small orders from people looking for exotic elements (within reason). They also sell quite a variety of compounds, particularly rare earth salts, many of which are highly colored. This ball of ruthenium chloride (hexahydrate) is bright orange, very attractive in a poisonous sort of way. Source: American Elements Contributor: American Elements Acquired: 2 June, 2006 Text Updated: 1 July, 2006 Price: donated Size: 0.5" Composition: RuCl3.3H2O Big bag of beads. (External Sample) This is a large ($18,000) order of platinum group metals placed by an excellent customer of my partner Max Whitby's element sales business. I happened to be visiting Max in London just before the order needed to be shipped to our customer in the US, so I hand-carried the precious cargo home rather than risking international shipping. These beads were made by Max in his reduced pressure argon arc furnace. The customer wishes to remain anonymous, so you'll just have to keep wondering where this remarkable trove of rare metals currently resides: The only thing you can be sure of is that I don't have it. Source: Max Whitby of RGB Contributor: Max Whitby of RGB Acquired: 4 September, 2007 Text Updated: 7 September, 2007 Price: N/A Size: 0.25" Composition: ReRuOsIr Photo Card Deck of the Elements. In late 2006 I published a photo periodic table and it's been selling well enough to encourage me to make new products. This one is a particularly neat one: A complete card deck of the elements with one big five-inch (12.7cm) square card for every element. If you like this site and all the pictures on it, you'll love this card deck. And of course if you're wondering what pays for all the pictures and the internet bandwidth to let you look at them, the answer is people buying my posters and cards decks. Hint hint. Source: Theodore Gray Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 19 November, 2008 Text Updated: 21 November, 2008 Price: $35 Size: 5" Composition: HHeLiBeBCNOFNeNaMg AlSiPSClArKCaScTiVCrMn FeCoNiCuZnGaGeAsSeBrKr RbSrYZrNbMoTcRuRhPdAg CdInSnSbTeIXeCsBaLaCePr NdPmSmEuGdTbDyHoErTm YbLuHfTaWReOsIrPtAuHgTl PbBiPoAtRnFrRaAcThPaUNp PuAmCmBkCfEsFmMdNoLrRf DbSgBhHsMtDsRgUubUutUuq UupUuhUusUuo Big bag of beads. (External Sample) This is part of a large ($18,000) order of platinum group metals placed by an excellent customer of my partner Max Whitby's element sales business. I happened to be visiting Max in London just before the order needed to be shipped to our customer in the US, so I hand-carried the precious cargo home rather than risking international shipping. These beads are made by Max in his reduced pressure argon arc furnace. The order consisted of equal volumes of ruthenium, rhenium, osmium, and iridium. Here is what the whole collection looks like: The customer wishes to remain anonymous, so you'll just have to keep wondering where this remarkable trove of rare metals currently resides: The only thing you can be sure of is that I don't have it. Location: Anonymous Photographed: 4 September, 2007 Text Updated: 6 September, 2007 Size: 0.25" Purity: 99.99% Big bag of beads. (External Sample) Close-up of one bead from the previous sample. Location: Anonymous Photographed: 4 September, 2007 Text Updated: 6 September, 2007 Size: 0.25" Purity: 99.99%    My periodic table poster is now available!