1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,920 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey Brainstuff Lauren 2 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:12,800 Speaker 1: vogelbamb Here. On Christmas Eve in the year eighteen hundred, 3 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:17,640 Speaker 1: English scientist William Hyde Wallaston and his colleagues Smithson Tenant 4 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:21,560 Speaker 1: unwrapped a gift to themselves. It was a piece of 5 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:25,599 Speaker 1: nearly pure platinum ore, secretly purchased and smuggled from the 6 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 1: Spanish colony of Duevo Granada in South America. Oh, what's 7 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:33,240 Speaker 1: Columbia today? The price tag was seven hundred and ninety 8 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 1: five pounds worth, a little over one thousand American dollars 9 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:38,680 Speaker 1: at the time and over twenty three thousand dollars today. 10 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:42,960 Speaker 1: The pair had high hopes for this hunk of rock. 11 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:46,599 Speaker 1: A Wallaston believed he could create a new chemical process 12 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:50,960 Speaker 1: that would make the solid ore a malleable platinum. Little 13 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:53,880 Speaker 1: did Walston know that his Christmas ore was the gift 14 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:57,320 Speaker 1: that would keep on giving. Their sample had secrets of 15 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:02,000 Speaker 1: its own, hidden away, a new, rare elemental metal never 16 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:05,520 Speaker 1: known to science before then. Today it's one of the 17 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 1: most valuable and precious metals on the planet Rhodium. With 18 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:14,840 Speaker 1: his chunk of smuggled platinum ore, in a few years 19 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:18,720 Speaker 1: Wallaston did what earlier scientists could not. He achieved a 20 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: chemical process that isolated platinum and rendered it malleable. As 21 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:27,640 Speaker 1: he dissolved the platinum ore in his backyard garden laboratory, 22 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:31,600 Speaker 1: he produced both a soluble and a non soluble residue. 23 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:37,040 Speaker 1: After precipitating the soluble solution, he noticed reddish salts remained. 24 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 1: Red salts are not typical of platinum, and Walaston suspected 25 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:45,679 Speaker 1: something else was present in the sample. Over eighteen oh 26 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:49,080 Speaker 1: three and eighteen oh four, Walaston announced that with the 27 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 1: sample of platinum ore, he had discovered two other precious metals. 28 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:57,720 Speaker 1: One he called polydium and the other rhodium, and the 29 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:01,000 Speaker 1: name is rooted in the Greek word for rose. Because 30 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 1: of those reddish salts, Rodium is now part of what's 31 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 1: known as the platinum group metals, six metals with similar 32 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 1: characteristics that are clumped together in the periodic table and 33 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:16,480 Speaker 1: often in deposits in real life. The group consists of 34 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:21,799 Speaker 1: rodium and polydium, perhaps obviously platinum, and then ruthenium, iridium, 35 00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:27,120 Speaker 1: and osmium. Platinum group metals are also considered precious metals 36 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:30,600 Speaker 1: alongside gold and silver, a meaning that they're rare and 37 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: have a high economic value due to a number of traits. 38 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:37,880 Speaker 1: They're fairly durable, not very reactive, easily workable or ductile, 39 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:44,120 Speaker 1: and they're shiny. Erodium is an ultra shiny, corrosion resistant 40 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: metal that has become useful in many industries, including the automobile, jewelry, chemical, 41 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:53,440 Speaker 1: and electrical trades, and that usefulness, combined with its scarcity, 42 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:58,079 Speaker 1: can keep the price high. Today, the price of rodium 43 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,960 Speaker 1: is four one hundred dollars in ounce. Compare that to 44 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:04,840 Speaker 1: platinum at nine hundred and sixty two bucks anounced or 45 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:08,800 Speaker 1: gold at one thousand, nine hundred and seventy two. Only 46 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:12,240 Speaker 1: iridium is higher at four thousand, six hundred dollars an ounce, 47 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:15,520 Speaker 1: but in twenty twenty one, rodium was all the way 48 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:20,240 Speaker 1: up to twenty nine thousand dollars in ounce. The volatile 49 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 1: and high prices are most likely due to new regulations 50 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:27,320 Speaker 1: for cleaner emissions in the automobile industry, particularly in China 51 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:30,640 Speaker 1: and Europe, combined with supply chain issues during the COVID 52 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 1: nineteen pandemic. When rodium is found, it's never in its 53 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:39,800 Speaker 1: pure form, or rather it's almost always collected as a 54 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:45,560 Speaker 1: minuscule byproduct of platinum, copper, or nickel refining. South Africa 55 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:47,800 Speaker 1: is the largest producer of rodium by way of the 56 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:51,680 Speaker 1: country's massive platinum mining operations, which have been called into 57 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 1: frequent question of the last ten years due to labor 58 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: rights and human rights abuses. People have been mining rodium 59 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:02,120 Speaker 1: as a byproduct platinum since the nineteen thirties after large 60 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:07,400 Speaker 1: sediments of platinum ore were found in South Africa. Of 61 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:11,480 Speaker 1: available rodium, eighty percent is used in catalytic converters in 62 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:16,520 Speaker 1: cars to help clean exhaust emissions. Rodium is uniquely exceptional 63 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:21,359 Speaker 1: at breaking down nitrous oxide molecules, the brownish, poisonous gas 64 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:25,400 Speaker 1: given off by fossil fuel powered cars, trucks, boats, power plants, 65 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:30,120 Speaker 1: and turbines, among many other offenders. Though the impact of 66 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:34,440 Speaker 1: nitrous oxide emissions cause irreparable damage to our bodies and ozone, 67 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:39,679 Speaker 1: it would be a lot worse without rodium. It's also 68 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:43,839 Speaker 1: useful in industrial laboratories as a catalyst for making nitric acid, 69 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:47,680 Speaker 1: acetic acid, some kinds of silicone, rubber, and menthol the 70 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:51,960 Speaker 1: minti flavor in chewing gum. Because rodium is resistant to 71 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,479 Speaker 1: corrosion and conducts electrical current easily. It's used as a 72 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 1: coating for optic fibers and optical mirrors, headlight reflectors, and 73 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:05,159 Speaker 1: electrical material. However, the average human is most likely to 74 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 1: directly encounter rodium in shiny, lustrous jewelry. Even though it's 75 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:13,520 Speaker 1: not the easiest metal to work with, it's extremely hard 76 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:16,359 Speaker 1: and has a very high melting point at three thousand, 77 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:19,360 Speaker 1: five hundred and ninety five degrees fahrenheit or two thousand 78 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:24,039 Speaker 1: and thirty five degrees celsius. Before the article this episode 79 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:27,360 Speaker 1: is based on How Stuffworks. Spoke with Sean Peterson, supervisor 80 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:31,159 Speaker 1: of Jewelry Manufacturing, Arts, Research and Development at the Gemological 81 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:36,440 Speaker 1: Institute of America. He said a rodium by itself is 82 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:40,440 Speaker 1: too hard for general jewelry making purposes. The most common 83 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:43,680 Speaker 1: use for rodium is as a plating over other metal alloys, 84 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:46,960 Speaker 1: either to help protect against allergies or to improve the 85 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:50,560 Speaker 1: color of the jewelry item. Jewelers seek roodium to use 86 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,440 Speaker 1: in the jewelry making process because it is bright, silvery 87 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:56,280 Speaker 1: white in color, and very hard, which can help make 88 00:05:56,279 --> 00:06:00,719 Speaker 1: the jewelry more scratch and corrosion resistant. It's also hypo allergenic, 89 00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 1: which can help those that may be allergic to certain 90 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:07,080 Speaker 1: jewelry metal alloys. The con is that the rhodium plating 91 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:10,640 Speaker 1: is only a thin layer coating jewelry. This means that 92 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:14,000 Speaker 1: over time the roodium will reduce due to wear and tear. 93 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: Because you need so little rodium to plate a piece 94 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:22,080 Speaker 1: of jewelry, it's relatively affordable, though you may have to 95 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:24,839 Speaker 1: have it replated once every year or two to keep 96 00:06:24,839 --> 00:06:27,839 Speaker 1: its luster up. So keep in mind that the color 97 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:30,480 Speaker 1: and shine of a rodium plated piece of jewelry will 98 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:38,880 Speaker 1: change over time without that additional cost and work. Today's 99 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:41,680 Speaker 1: episode is based on the article roodium is Earth's rarest 100 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:44,839 Speaker 1: and most expensive precious metal on HowStuffWorks dot Com, written 101 00:06:44,839 --> 00:06:47,800 Speaker 1: by Aleison Trautner. Brains Stuff is production by Heart Radio 102 00:06:47,839 --> 00:06:50,080 Speaker 1: in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com and is produced 103 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:53,040 Speaker 1: by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio, 104 00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:56,359 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 105 00:06:56,400 --> 00:07:06,839 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.