What Is the Most Expensive Element

What is the most expensive element? This question is tricky to answer because some elements simply cannot be purchased in pure form. For example, the superheavy elements at the end of the periodic table are so unstable, even the researchers studying them typically dont have a sample for more than a fraction of a second. The cost of these elements is essentially the price tag of their synthesis, which runs into millions or billions of dollars per atom. Here is a look at the most expensive natural element and the most expensive of any element  known to exist. Most Expensive Natural Element The most expensive natural element is francium. Although francium occurs naturally, it decays so quickly that it cannot be collected for use. Only a few atoms of francium have been produced commercially, so if you wanted to produce 100 grams of francium, you could expect to pay a few billion U.S. dollars for it. Lutetium is the most expensive element that you could actually order and purchase. The price for 100 grams of lutetium is around $10,000. So, from a practical standpoint, lutetium is the most expensive element. Expensive Synthetic Elements The transuranium elements, in general, are extremely expensive. These elements typically are man-made, plus it is costly to isolate the trace amounts of transuranic elements that exist naturally. For example, based on the cost of the accelerator time, manpower, materials, etc., californium is estimated to cost around $2.7 billion per 100 grams. You can contrast that price with that cost of plutonium, which runs between $5,000 and $13,000 per 100 grams, depending on purity. Fast Facts: The Most Expensive Natural Elements The most expensive natural element is francium, but it decays so quickly it cant be collected to be sold. If you could buy it, youd pay billions of dollars for 100 grams.The most expensive natural element that is stable enough to purchase is lutetium. If you order 100 grams of lutetium, it will cost about $10,000.Atoms of synthetic elements cost millions of dollars to produce. Sometimes they dont even last long enough to be detected. Scientists only know they were there because of their decay products. Antimatter Costs More Than Matter Of course, you could argue that anti-elements, which technically are pure elements, are more expensive than regular elements. Gerald Smith estimated that positrons could be produced for about $25 billion per gram in 2006. NASA gave a figure of $62.5 trillion per gram of antihydrogen in 1999. While you cant buy antimatter, it does occur naturally. For example, it is produced by some lightning strikes. However, antimatter reacts with regular matter very quickly. Other Expensive Elements Gold is a valuable element, worth around $39.80 per gram. While its much less costly than lutetium, its also easier to obtain, more useful, and easier to trade.Like gold, rhodium is an element that is a noble metal. Rhodium is used in jewelry and catalytic converters. Its worth around $45 per gram.Platinum has value comparable to that of rhodium. Its used as a catalyst, in jewelry, and in certain drugs. It costs around $48 per gram.Plutonium is a radioactive element that can be used for research and nuclear applications. Its worth about $4,000 per gram (although you can expect various regulatory agencies to take a close look at you if you start accumulating it).Tritium is the radioactive isotope of the element hydrogen. Tritium is used in research and to illuminate phosphors as a light source. It costs around $30,000 per gram.Carbon can be one of the least expensive elements (as carbon black or soot) or most expensive (as diamond). While diamonds vary widely in price, a flawless diam ond would run you upwards of $65,000 per gram.Californium is another radioactive element, used primarily in research and in instruments employed in the petroleum industry. A gram of californium-252 can cost $27 million per gram, which makes it considerably more expensive than lutetium, but less than francium. Fortunately, only a tiny quantity of californium is needed at a time. Elements That Are Dirt Cheap If you cant afford francium, lutetium, or even gold, plenty of elements are readily available in pure form. If youve ever burned a marshmallow or a piece of toast, the black ash was nearly pure carbon. Other elements, with higher value, are readily available in pure form. The copper in electrical wiring is over 99 percent pure. Natural sulfur occurs around volcanoes.

Fdr and His Influence on America - 1608 Words

An Influential Person on Society Yesterday and Today How Franklin Roosevelt’s Influence is Still Felt Today. There have been many influential presidents during the history of our nation. A few examples include George Washington who led our country through the revolutionary war and our nation’s first president. There was also Abraham Lincoln who led us through the Civil War. However our most influential president is Franklin D. Roosevelt. During Franklin Roosevelt’s years in the oval office he would lead our country through one of the toughest times during the 20th century enduring the great depression and World War II. His influence on the United States and the world still exist today with charities he started, federal laws in effect†¦show more content†¦On August 14th 1935, the Social Security Act was passed. The SSA was designed to combat the widespread poverty among senior citizens. It has also provided retirement payments for workers plus benefits for widows, orphans, and the needy. This program was able to set the requirements needed for Medicare and Medicaid, two other tax-payer funded programs to help the elderly and the needy. The stock market was not regulated when it crashed back in 1929. That changed as well during Roosevelt’s first term. The Securities and Exchange Commission was established to help regulate the stock market. The SEC is still active today investigating unfair trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The Tennessee Valley Authority was created in 1933 to help the Tennessee valley region hit hardest by the depression. The goal of the TVA was to help the economy in this area. To this day it is still federally owned corporation and is the largest provider of electricity in the United States. To this day TVA is a major employer in the area. Some of the other programs created during the first 100 days of office include the Federal Housing Administration and the Federal Communications Commission. Both agencies are still active to this day with the FHA helping regulate mortgages and the FCC regulating telecommunicati ons companies including Verizon, ATT, Qwest and Comcast. There also were some programs that had its effect on the economy but they are no longer in existence today. Two of the newShow MoreRelatedPresident Franklin Roosevelt s Speech948 Words   |  4 PagesIn his acceptance speech to the Democratic National Convention on June 27, 1936, President Franklin Roosevelt mentioned many challenges and concerns facing the United States during that time period. In his speech the President used short-hand phrases, brief references, and pejorative naming to make his larger, political and ideological points. 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He had a broad smile and was a charismatic optimist whose confidence helped sustain the nation through its darkest moments during crisis like the Great Depression and World War II. He became one of the most beloved of U.S. presidents for four terms in office. But beneath his outward friendliness was an inner reserve and an iron will. His admirers emphasized the way in whichRead MoreA First Lady Of The White House Essay1700 Words   |  7 Pagesvery distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, (FDR), and was constantly under the scrutinous eyes of her mother-in-law, Sara Delano Roosevelt. Over the course of the next ten years, Eleanor and Franklin produced six children. This placed some restraints on Eleanor’s ambitions. However, it did not prohibit her to actively campaign, whenever possible in her husband’s behalf. Likewise, uphold to social obligati ons, mandated by being the wife of FDR, Assistant Navy Secretary (1913-1920). UnfortunatelyRead MoreThe Legacy Of The New Deal1426 Words   |  6 Pages After a time of malnutrition, high unemployment rates, homelessness, economic instability, and a president too cold and stubborn for his people, the citizens of America desperately looked for a sign of hope. The ultimate end to the Great Depression was undoubtedly World War II. However, it was FDR’s New Deal that shed the light of hope on America’s citizens. The programs of the New Deal transformed the role of the government by the implication of numerous laws in order to stop the economy fromRead MoreEssay on Franklin D. Roosevelt: an Influential Leader1333 Words   |  6 Pages Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was a man of unusual charm and great optimism, which he was able to communicate to others. He had a broad smile and was a charismatic optimist whose confidence helped sustain the nation through its darkest moments during crisis like the Great Depression and World War II. He became one of the most beloved of U.S. presidents for four terms in office. But bene ath his outward friendliness was an inner reserve and an iron will. His admirers emphasized the way in whichRead MoreThe Presidency Of The United States1401 Words   |  6 Pagespreservation of the nation’s land, helping the citizens of the United States and establishing the United States as a world power. The presidency of most 19thcentury would be best described as basically grounds keeping. They were not seen as huge influences when compared to the industrial revolution that was occurring at the time. Some played big roles that helped with shaping the future of how the United States would come to be. One of the most influential of the 19th century presidents would have

Crime Detection (809 words) Essay Example For Students

Crime Detection (809 words) Essay Crime DetectionIn recent times, science has provided substantial aid to crime detection. Because anything in the physical universe has the potential of becoming an itemof evidence in an investigation, a wide variety of procedures may be used inanalyzing and interpreting evidence in a criminal case. These procedures includehandwriting analysis, forensic photography, crime scene documentation,metallurgical investigations, chain of custody, entomology, and blood spatters. The first thing you do after securing a crime scene is document it. Always takepictures. They are the best records available. They show the crime scene as itwas found; where objects are in relation to other objects, victims, rooms, etc. Take notes. Describe the scene, its over all conditions. Describe rooms,lights, shades, locks, food; anything that can indicate a time frame, conditionof scene or that might have even the slightest evidentiary significance. Checkdates on mail and newspapers. Diagram the crime scene. Take measurements. Photosare good to show where an object is in relation to another object, butmeasurements tell exactly how far. True handwriting analysis involvespainstaking examination of the design, shape and structure of handwriting todetermine authorship of a given handwriting sample. The basic principleunderlying handwriting analysis is that no two people write the exact same thingthe exact same way. Every person develops unique peculiarities andcharacteristics in their handwriting. Handwriting analysis looks at letterformations, connecting strokes between the letters, upstrokes, retraces, downstrokes, spacing, baseline, curves, size, distortions, hesitations and a numberof other characteristics of handwriting. By examining these details andvariations in a questioned sample and comparing them to a sample of knownauthorship, a determination can be made as the whether or not the authorship isgenuine. Another is, Metallurgical Investigationsexaminations make it possibleto identify the source of an item?whether made of metal, plastic, ceramic, orother material?found at a crime scene, and further, to determine if twosimilar items were fractured from each other, the nature of the force causingthe fracture, the direction from which the force came, and the time when thefragments became separated. Such identification helps trace the evidence to itsowner. The metallurgist can also restore obliterated or altered numbers onobjects of any material. Mineralogical Investigations is the science ofmineralogy is also used in crime detection. The mineralogist studies soil,plaster, cement, brick, concrete, and glass for any evidence. Mineral analyseshave shown that differences may be detected in soil composition. Soil and dustfound on a suspects clothing and determined to be comparable to that at thecrime scene help to prove the persons presence in that locality. Toxicology maybe defined as the science of poisons special methods of analytical chemistryhave been developed for use in toxicological examinations. The specimensordinarily examined in cases of suspected poisoning are tissue samples fromvital organs, blood or urine, food, drink, and the suspected poison itself. Firearms are identified through microscopic imperfections that are producedinadvertently in gun barrels during manufacture. Subsequent use and wearcontribute further to a weapons individuality. Chain of Custody is of paramountimportance to any investigation. It is the unbroken sequence of events that iscaused by an item of evidence from the time it is found at the crime scene tothe time it appears in court. Every link in this chain is documented, fromdiscovery at the crime scene, through evidence gathering, storage, and labanalysis return to storage, and transfer to court. Every link is documented bydate, time, and handling individual, what was done with the evidence by thatindividual. If chain of custody is broken, if the evidence cannot be accountedin one step of its journey from crime scene to courtroom, it is renderedinadmissible; useless to the case. Blood spatters help a great deal inreconstructing a crime scene. They can be used to corroborate or disprove andalibi. They can be used to convict the guilty. There is much more to it thanlooking at a stain or spatter and saying, This is where the crime tookplace. The patterns of the spatters and the shapes of the individual blooddroplets themselves can tell how the crime was committed. Drops falling fromdifferent heights (i.e. at different speeds) will leave different lookingspatters. A drop falling from a low height of a few inches will leave a smallcohesive circle. At greater heights, the circle will be larger and may even havea crown effect. Hitting a surface at an angle does even more to disrupt ablood droplet. Perpendicular impact leaves a droplet fairly uniform, as shownbelow. A droplet hitting a surface at an angle will bulge out in one direction,indicating the direction of travel of the droplet. Cast off stains is a resultof blunt force trauma (beating with an object such as a hammer). Pulling backfrom a blow produces a blood spatter that indicates direction, by creating anarc of blood droplets. You c an determine the number of blows inflicted bycounting the arcs. You can also determine the orientation of the individualsinvolved the size of the object used and the right or left handedness of theassailant.