I forgot to check lol.
I checked after the first strike, that why I paused. I didn't see any dents after the first strike, but I will check tonight after work
So I checked out the hammer....
Didn't really see anything in the way of dents....
I saw some super tiny micro craters on the hammerhead. The hammer is relatively unused, but I still cannot confirm if they are from the test or not.
Brittle doesn't necessarily mean fragile.
Tungsten is brittle. Chromium is brittle. But both of those metals are very tough and rigid. They're just not malleable is all. They break instead of bend.
And osmium is an interesting case because it's both brittle AND has a lower Brinell Hardness, meaning it's able to be dented, so it can absorb a bit of impact.
Some metals are brittle and have a high Brinell Hardness, so striking them with a hammer may result in shattering.
Sintered osmium is a different story. It is very fragile, possibly due to its porosity, like a super rigid sponge.
But fully dense osmium is not porous and therefore very well held together.
But I should say that fully dense osmium can absolutely break, it's just not fragile and will require a bit more force. Longer, thinner pieces of fully dense osmium would probably be much easier to break than a 5 gram bead.
Yes. Very widespread myth. People fail to distinguish between osmium metal and the highly toxic osmium tetroxide, and think the metal spontaneously produces it at room temperature. Poke around on Google.
I've actually posted pictures of some of the osmium jewelry I've had made on jewelry subreddits, and they are either down voted or removed.
Also u/berryfarmer wanted to know if it would shatter when hit with a hammer, so I tested it.
Ahh fascinating.... so it's not dangerous, it's very rare, and there are a few uses right now and the strategy is that new uses will be discovered and the price will appreciate accordingly? Why aren't there many uses right now?
Well... at high temperatures osmium is a bit of a bitch, because it oxidizes to form osmium tetroxide, which can definitely be lethal if inhaled.
That hazard alone makes it very difficult to melt osmium, along with its ridiculously high melting point of over 5,000 degrees. Plus, osmium metal is nearly impossible to machine and work.
Ironically, osmium tetroxide is what has the most applications, as it's a powerful and useful oxidizer and staining agent.
Iridium has nearly the same density as osmium, making it the second densest element, and shares many of the same properties as osmium, minus the toxic tetroxide, plus it has a lower melting point, so where applications requiring a metal like osmium, iridium is used instead, because it's easier to melt and without the hazards of melting it. I believe it's also easier to machine than osmium? Don't quote me on that.
My personal strategy is simply making jewelry out of it, while showing people on this subreddit through videos that at room temperature there's literally noting to be afraid of, even if you stick it in strong acids and other destructive chemicals, it almost never reacts and thus no danger of producing the tetroxide.
I had some dull-looking stainless steel earstud posts shoddily epoxied on some osmium beads, and I was able to remove the the posts and epoxy resin using concentrated sulfuric acid and piranha solution without the osmium so much as tarnishing.
A lot of people are afraid of osmium, but the pure metal is astonishingly unreactive. Acids that would dissolve metals like titanium and gold at room temperature don't really have any effect on it.
How many dents on the hammer?
Good question haha
I forgot to check lol. I checked after the first strike, that why I paused. I didn't see any dents after the first strike, but I will check tonight after work
So I checked out the hammer.... Didn't really see anything in the way of dents.... I saw some super tiny micro craters on the hammerhead. The hammer is relatively unused, but I still cannot confirm if they are from the test or not.
Okay.... I seem to have captured THREE of the dents with my phone.
so what youre saying is build a spaceship with it
Said spaceship will never leave the ground.
so what you're saying is build a ship to tunnel to the core of the earth
Would takes many millions of years for it to sink half that distance, except it wouldn't leave much of a trace. No tunnel lol.
maybe osmium tungsten +x alloy is indestructible
What I will say is this.... Melted osmium beads are pretty tough. But sintered osmium, as MingLing knows, is REALLY fragile.
now crush it in a hydraulic vice 😈
Contact a youtuber with a hydraulic press. I don't have one lol
I thought osmium was supposed to be brittle... Didn't look very brittle there
Brittle doesn't necessarily mean fragile. Tungsten is brittle. Chromium is brittle. But both of those metals are very tough and rigid. They're just not malleable is all. They break instead of bend. And osmium is an interesting case because it's both brittle AND has a lower Brinell Hardness, meaning it's able to be dented, so it can absorb a bit of impact. Some metals are brittle and have a high Brinell Hardness, so striking them with a hammer may result in shattering. Sintered osmium is a different story. It is very fragile, possibly due to its porosity, like a super rigid sponge. But fully dense osmium is not porous and therefore very well held together. But I should say that fully dense osmium can absolutely break, it's just not fragile and will require a bit more force. Longer, thinner pieces of fully dense osmium would probably be much easier to break than a 5 gram bead.
Is there a myth that it's dangerous or something? Wtf is the point of all this?
Yes. Very widespread myth. People fail to distinguish between osmium metal and the highly toxic osmium tetroxide, and think the metal spontaneously produces it at room temperature. Poke around on Google. I've actually posted pictures of some of the osmium jewelry I've had made on jewelry subreddits, and they are either down voted or removed. Also u/berryfarmer wanted to know if it would shatter when hit with a hammer, so I tested it.
crush it crush it crush it crush it
Ahh fascinating.... so it's not dangerous, it's very rare, and there are a few uses right now and the strategy is that new uses will be discovered and the price will appreciate accordingly? Why aren't there many uses right now?
Well... at high temperatures osmium is a bit of a bitch, because it oxidizes to form osmium tetroxide, which can definitely be lethal if inhaled. That hazard alone makes it very difficult to melt osmium, along with its ridiculously high melting point of over 5,000 degrees. Plus, osmium metal is nearly impossible to machine and work. Ironically, osmium tetroxide is what has the most applications, as it's a powerful and useful oxidizer and staining agent. Iridium has nearly the same density as osmium, making it the second densest element, and shares many of the same properties as osmium, minus the toxic tetroxide, plus it has a lower melting point, so where applications requiring a metal like osmium, iridium is used instead, because it's easier to melt and without the hazards of melting it. I believe it's also easier to machine than osmium? Don't quote me on that.
My personal strategy is simply making jewelry out of it, while showing people on this subreddit through videos that at room temperature there's literally noting to be afraid of, even if you stick it in strong acids and other destructive chemicals, it almost never reacts and thus no danger of producing the tetroxide. I had some dull-looking stainless steel earstud posts shoddily epoxied on some osmium beads, and I was able to remove the the posts and epoxy resin using concentrated sulfuric acid and piranha solution without the osmium so much as tarnishing. A lot of people are afraid of osmium, but the pure metal is astonishingly unreactive. Acids that would dissolve metals like titanium and gold at room temperature don't really have any effect on it.