Ruthenium, Physical and Chemical Properties

Ruthenium is a member of the group of six platinum metals which occur together in nature and is located in the center of the Periodic Table in the Iron-Cobalt-Nickel group:

Fe	Co	Ni
Ruthenium	Rh	Pd
Os	Ir	Pt

Physical Properties

Ruthenium is a transition metal like the other members of the group. They are less reactive than the typical metals but more reactive than the less typical metals. The transition metals are characterized by having the outermost electron shell containing two electrons and the next inner shell an increasing number of electrons. Because of the small energy differences between the valence shells, a number of oxidation states occur.

Atomic number	44
Atomic weight	101.07
Relative abundance in the Earth’s crust	1×10−6
Abundance of major natural isotopes	101 (17.0%)
	102 (31.6%)
	104 (18.7%)
Crystal structure	Hexagonal closed packed
Lattice constants at 20°C
a, nm	0.27058
c, nm	0.42819
Atomic radius, nm	0.133
Melting point, °C	2,310
Boiling point, °C	4,050
Specific heat...