Rhenium Facts for Kids

Rhenium metal

Rhenium is a special chemical element with the symbol Re. Its atomic number is 75. It's a very rare and shiny silver-white metal. In chemistry, it belongs to a group of elements called transition metals. Rhenium is quite similar to manganese. It was discovered in 1908 and was one of the last stable elements found. It got its name from the River Rhine in Europe.

Rhenium is super important for making jet engines! It's used in special metal mixes called superalloys. These alloys, which can have up to 6% rhenium, are used in the parts of jet engines where fuel burns and hot gases spin the turbines. Rhenium is also a great catalyst, which means it helps chemical reactions happen faster.

You won't find much rhenium on its own. It's usually found as a by-product when people are getting molybdenum out of its ores.

How Rhenium Was Found
What Makes Rhenium Special?
Where Rhenium Is Found
How We Get Rhenium
What Rhenium Is Used For
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How Rhenium Was Found

Rhenium was discovered in Germany by three scientists: Walter Noddack, Ida Noddack, and Otto Berg. In 1925, they announced that they had found traces of this new element in a platinum ore and in a mineral called columbite. They also found it in other minerals like gadolinite and molybdenite. It was a lot of work! In 1928, they managed to get just 1 gram of rhenium from a huge amount of molybdenite – about 660 kilograms!

What Makes Rhenium Special?

Rhenium is a beautiful silvery-white metal. It's known for being super tough. In fact, it has the third highest melting point of all the elements. This means it needs a lot of heat to turn into a liquid. It's also the third densest element, which means it's very heavy for its size.

Where Rhenium Is Found

Rhenium is one of the rarest elements on Earth's crust. It's the 77th most common element. You won't find pure rhenium lying around in nature. Instead, it's found in tiny amounts inside other minerals, especially molybdenite.

How We Get Rhenium

Most of the rhenium we use today comes from the gases that are released when molybdenum is processed. Some molybdenum ores can contain a small amount of rhenium, from 0.001% to 0.2%. To get pure rhenium metal, a chemical called ammonium perrhenate is heated with hydrogen gas. This process helps to separate the rhenium.

What Rhenium Is Used For

Rhenium is incredibly useful, especially in high-tech areas:

Jet Engines: As mentioned, special superalloys containing rhenium are key for making parts of jet engines, like the combustion chambers and turbine blades. These alloys, such as CMSX-4 and CMSX-10, are also used in big industrial gas turbine engines like the GE 7FA.
Catalysts: Rhenium-platinum alloys are used as catalysts in a process called catalytic reforming. This process is important in making gasoline.
Special Equipment: Rhenium wires are used in scientific tools like mass spectrometers (which help identify chemicals) and ion gauges (which measure very low pressures). They are also used in photoflash lamps for photography.
Medicine: Some types of radioactive rhenium, like Rhenium-188 and Rhenium-186, are being studied and used to help treat liver cancer.