The world around us is still fraught with many mysteries, but even phenomena and substances known to scientists for a long time never cease to amaze and delight. We admire bright colors, enjoy tastes and use the properties of all kinds of substances that make our lives more comfortable, safer and more enjoyable. In search of the most reliable and strong materials, man has made many exciting discoveries, and here is a selection of just 25 such unique compounds!
25. Diamonds
If not everyone, then almost everyone knows this for sure. Diamonds are not only one of the most revered gemstones, but also one of the hardest minerals on Earth. On the Mohs scale (a scale of hardness that evaluates the reaction of a mineral to scratching), a diamond is listed at line 10. There are a total of 10 positions on the scale, and the 10th is the last and hardest degree. Diamonds are so hard that they can only be scratched by other diamonds.
24. Catching webs of the spider species Caerostris darwini
Photo: pixabay
It's hard to believe, but the web of the Caerostris darwini spider (or Darwin's spider) is stronger than steel and harder than Kevlar. This web has been recognized as the hardest biological material in the world, although now it already has a potential competitor, but the data has not yet been confirmed. The spider fiber was tested for such characteristics as breaking strain, impact strength, tensile strength and Young's modulus (the property of a material to resist stretching and compression during elastic deformation), and for all these indicators the spider web showed itself in the most amazing way. In addition, the Darwin spider's web is incredibly lightweight. For example, if we wrap our planet with Caerostris darwini fiber, the weight of such a long thread will be only 500 grams. Such long networks do not exist, but the theoretical calculations are simply amazing!
23. Aerographite
Photo: BrokenSphere
This synthetic foam is one of the lightest fibrous materials in the world, and it consists of a network of carbon tubes just a few microns in diameter. Aerographite is 75 times lighter than foam, but at the same time much stronger and more flexible. It can be compressed to 30 times its original size without any harm to its extremely elastic structure. Thanks to this property, airgraphite foam can withstand loads up to 40,000 times its own weight.
22. Palladium metal glass
Photo: pixabay
A team of scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Berkeley Lab) has developed the new kind metal glass, combining an almost ideal combination of strength and ductility. The reason for the uniqueness of the new material lies in the fact that its chemical structure successfully hides the fragility of existing glassy materials and at the same time maintains a high endurance threshold, which ultimately significantly increases the fatigue strength of this synthetic structure.
21. Tungsten carbide
Photo: pixabay
Tungsten carbide is an incredibly hard material that is highly wear resistant. Under certain conditions, this connection is considered very brittle, but under heavy load it shows unique plastic properties, manifested in the form of slip bands. Thanks to all these qualities, tungsten carbide is used in the manufacture of armor-piercing tips and various equipment, including all kinds of cutters, abrasive discs, drills, cutters, drill bits and other cutting tools.
20. Silicon carbide
Photo: Tiia Monto
Silicon carbide is one of the main materials used for the production of battle tanks. This compound is known for its low cost, outstanding refractoriness and high hardness, and is therefore often used in the manufacture of equipment or gear that must deflect bullets, cut or grind other durable materials. Silicon carbide makes excellent abrasives, semiconductors, and even inserts in Jewelry imitating diamonds.
19. Cubic boron nitride
Photo: wikimedia commons
Cubic boron nitride is a super-hard material, similar in hardness to diamond, but also has a number of distinctive advantages - high temperature stability and chemical resistance. Cubic boron nitride does not dissolve in iron and nickel even when exposed to high temperatures, while diamond under the same conditions enters chemical reactions fast enough. This is actually beneficial for its use in industrial grinding tools.
18. Ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), Dyneema fiber brand
Photo: Justsail
High modulus polyethylene has extremely high wear resistance, low friction coefficient and high fracture toughness (low temperature reliability). Today it is considered the strongest fibrous substance in the world. The most amazing thing about this polyethylene is that it is lighter than water and can stop bullets at the same time! Cables and ropes made from Dyneema fibers do not sink in water, do not require lubrication and do not change their properties when wet, which is very important for shipbuilding.
17. Titanium alloys
Photo: Alchemist-hp (pse-mendelejew.de)
Titanium alloys are incredibly ductile and exhibit amazing strength when stretched. In addition, they have high heat resistance and corrosion resistance, which makes them extremely useful in areas such as aircraft manufacturing, rocketry, shipbuilding, chemical, food and transport engineering.
16. Liquidmetal alloy
Photo: pixabay
Developed in 2003 at the California Institute of Technology, this material is renowned for its strength and durability. The name of the compound connotes something brittle and liquid, but at room temperature it is actually extremely hard, wear-resistant, resistant to corrosion and transforms when heated, like thermoplastics. The main areas of application so far are in the manufacture of watches, golf clubs and coatings for mobile phones(Vertu, iPhone).
15. Nanocellulose
Photo: pixabay
Nanocellulose is isolated from wood fiber and is a new type of wood material that is even stronger than steel! In addition, nanocellulose is also cheaper. The innovation has great potential and in the future could seriously compete with glass and carbon fiber. The developers believe that this material will soon be in great demand in the production of military armor, super-flexible screens, filters, flexible batteries, absorbent aerogels and biofuels.
14. Teeth of limpet snails
Photo: pixabay
Previously, we already told you about the Darwin spider’s catching net, which was once recognized as the strongest biological material on the planet. However, a recent study has shown that the limpet is the most durable biological substance known to science. Yes, these teeth are stronger than the web of Caerostris darwini. And this is not surprising, because tiny sea creatures feed on algae growing on the surface of harsh rocks, and in order to separate food from the rock, these animals have to work hard. Scientists believe that in the future we will be able to use the example of the fibrous structure of the teeth of sea limpets in the engineering industry and begin to build cars, boats and even aircraft increased strength, inspired by the example of simple snails.
13. Maraging steel
Photo: pixabay
Maraging steel is a high-strength, high-alloy alloy with excellent ductility and toughness. The material is widely used in rocket science and is used to make all kinds of tools.
12. Osmium
Photo: Periodictableru / www.periodictable.ru
Osmium is an incredibly dense element, and its hardness and high melting point make it difficult to machine. That is why osmium is used where durability and strength are valued most. Osmium alloys are found in electrical contacts, rocketry, military projectiles, surgical implants, and many other applications.
11. Kevlar
Photo: wikimedia commons
Kevlar is a high-strength fiber that can be found in car tires, brake pads, cables, prosthetic and orthopedic products, body armor, protective clothing fabrics, shipbuilding and parts of unmanned aerial vehicles. The material has become almost synonymous with strength and is a type of plastic with incredibly high strength and elasticity. The tensile strength of Kevlar is 8 times higher than that of steel wire, and it begins to melt at a temperature of 450℃.
10. Ultra-high molecular weight high-density polyethylene, Spectra fiber brand
Photo: Tomas Castelazo, www.tomascastelazo.com / Wikimedia Commons
UHMWPE is essentially a very durable plastic. Spectra, a UHMWPE brand, is, in turn, a lightweight fiber of the highest wear resistance, 10 times superior to steel in this indicator. Like Kevlar, Spectra is used in the manufacture of body armor and protective helmets. Along with UHMWPE, the Dynimo Spectrum brand is popular in the shipbuilding and transport industries.
9. Graphene
Photo: pixabay
Graphene is an allotrope of carbon, and its crystal lattice, just one atom thick, is so strong that it is 200 times harder than steel. Graphene looks like cling film, but tearing it is an almost impossible task. To pierce a graphene sheet, you will have to stick a pencil into it, on which you will have to balance a load that weighs an entire school bus. Good luck!
8. Carbon nanotube paper
Photo: pixabay
Thanks to nanotechnology, scientists have managed to make paper that is 50 thousand times thinner than a human hair. Sheets of carbon nanotubes are 10 times lighter than steel, but the most amazing thing is that they are as much as 500 times stronger than steel! Macroscopic nanotube plates are most promising for the manufacture of supercapacitor electrodes.
7. Metal microgrid
Photo: pixabay
This is the lightest metal in the world! Metal microgrid is a synthetic porous material that is 100 times lighter than foam. But let him appearance Don't be fooled, these microgrids are also incredibly strong, giving them great potential for use in all sorts of engineering fields. They can be used to make excellent shock absorbers and thermal insulators, and the metal's amazing ability to shrink and return to its original state allows it to be used for energy storage. Metal microgrids are also actively used in the production of various parts for aircraft of the American company Boeing.
6. Carbon nanotubes
Photo: User Mstroeck / en.wikipedia
We have already talked above about ultra-strong macroscopic plates made of carbon nanotubes. But what kind of material is this? Essentially these are graphene planes rolled into a tube (9th point). The result is an incredibly light, resilient and durable material with a wide range of applications.
5. Airbrush
Photo: wikimedia commons
Also known as graphene airgel, this material is extremely lightweight and strong at the same time. The new type of gel completely replaces the liquid phase with a gaseous phase and is characterized by sensational hardness, heat resistance, low density and low thermal conductivity. Incredibly, graphene airgel is 7 times lighter than air! The unique compound is able to restore its original shape even after 90% compression and can absorb an amount of oil that is 900 times the weight of the airgraphene used for absorption. Perhaps in the future this class of materials will help combat environmental disasters such as oil spills.
4. Untitled material, developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Photo: pixabay
As you read this, a team of scientists from MIT is working to improve the properties of graphene. The researchers said they have already succeeded in converting the two-dimensional structure of this material into three-dimensional. The new graphene substance has not yet received its name, but it is already known that its density is 20 times less than that of steel, and its strength is 10 times higher than that of steel.
3. Carbin
Photo: Smokefoot
Even though it's just linear chains of carbon atoms, carbyne has 2 times the tensile strength of graphene and is 3 times harder than diamond!
2. Boron nitride wurtzite modification
Photo: pixabay
This newly discovered natural substance is formed during volcanic eruptions and is 18% harder than diamonds. However, it is superior to diamonds in a number of other parameters. Wurtzite boron nitride is one of only 2 natural substances found on Earth that is harder than diamond. The problem is that there are very few such nitrides in nature, and therefore they are not easy to study or apply in practice.
1. Lonsdaleite
Photo: pixabay
Also known as hexagonal diamond, lonsdaleite is made up of carbon atoms, but in this modification the atoms are arranged slightly differently. Like wurtzite boron nitride, lonsdaleite is a natural substance superior in hardness to diamond. Moreover, this amazing mineral is as much as 58% harder than diamond! Like wurtzite boron nitride, this compound is extremely rare. Sometimes lonsdaleite is formed during the collision of meteorites containing graphite with the Earth.
Precious metals have captivated the minds of people for centuries, who are willing to pay huge sums for products made from them, but the metal in question is not used in jewelry production. Osmium is the heaviest substance on Earth, which is classified as a rare earth precious metal. Due to its high density, this substance has a lot of weight. Is osmium the heaviest substance (among those known) not only on planet Earth, but also in space?
This substance is a shiny blue-gray metal. Despite the fact that it is a representative of the noble metal family, it is not possible to make jewelry from it, since it is very hard and, at the same time, fragile. Because of these qualities, osmium is difficult to machine, and to this we must add its considerable weight. If you weigh a cube made of osmium (side length 8 cm) and compare it with the weight of a 10-liter bucket filled with water, the first will be 1.5 kg heavier than the second.
The heaviest substance on Earth was discovered at the beginning of the 18th century, thanks to chemical experiments with platinum ore by dissolving the latter in aqua regia (a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids). Since osmium does not dissolve in acids and alkalis, melts at a temperature slightly above 3000°C, boils at 5012°C, and does not change its structure at a pressure of 770 GPa, it can confidently be considered the most powerful substance on Earth.
Osmium deposits do not exist in nature in its pure form; it is usually found in compounds with other chemicals. Its contents in earth's crust is scanty, and production is labor-intensive. These factors have a huge impact on the cost of osmium; its price is amazing, because it is much more expensive than gold.
Due to its high cost, this substance is not widely used for industrial purposes, but only in cases where its use is determined by maximum benefit. Thanks to the combination of osmium with other metals, the wear resistance of the latter, their durability and resistance to mechanical stress (friction and corrosion of metals) increase. Such alloys are used in rocketry, military and aviation industries. An alloy of osmium and platinum is used in medicine to make surgical instruments and implants. Its use is justified in the production of highly sensitive instruments, watch movements and compasses.
An interesting fact is that scientists find osmium, along with other precious metals, in the chemical composition of iron meteorites that fell to earth. Does this mean that this element is the heaviest substance on Earth and in space?
This is difficult to say. The fact is that the conditions of outer space are very different from those on earth; the force of gravity between objects is very strong, which in turn leads to a significant increase in the density of some space objects. One example is stars, which are made of neutrons. By earthly standards, this is a huge weight in one cubic millimeter. And these are only grains of knowledge that humanity possesses.
The most expensive and heaviest substance on earth is osmium-187; only Kazakhstan sells it on the world market, but this isotope has not yet been used in industry.
Extraction of osmium is a very labor-intensive process, and it takes at least nine months to obtain it in consumer form. In this regard, the annual production of osmium in the world is only about 600 kg (this is very small compared to the production of gold, which is calculated in thousands of tons annually).
The name of the most powerful substance, “osmium,” is translated as “smell,” but the metal itself does not smell of anything, but the smell appears during the oxidation of osmium, and it is quite unpleasant.
So, in terms of heaviness and density on Earth, there is no equal to osmium, this metal is also described as the rarest, most expensive, most durable, most brilliant, and experts also say that osmium oxide has very strong toxicity.
"most extreme" option. Sure, we've all heard stories about magnets strong enough to injure children from the inside and acids that will pass through your hands in a matter of seconds, but there are even more "extreme" versions of these.
1. The blackest matter known to man
What happens if you stack the edges of carbon nanotubes on top of each other and alternate layers of them? The result is a material that absorbs 99.9% of the light that hits it. The microscopic surface of the material is uneven and rough, which refracts light and is also a poor reflective surface. After that, try using carbon nanotubes as superconductors in a specific order, which makes them excellent light absorbers, and you'll get a real black storm. Scientists are seriously puzzled by the potential uses of this substance, since, in fact, light is not “lost”, the substance could be used to improve optical devices such as telescopes and even be used for solar cells operating at almost 100% efficiency.
2. The most flammable substance
Lots of things burn at an astonishing rate, such as styrofoam, napalm, and that's just the beginning. But what if there was a substance that could set the earth on fire? On the one hand, this is a provocative question, but it was asked as a starting point. Chlorine trifluoride has the dubious reputation of being a horribly flammable substance, even though the Nazis believed the substance was too dangerous to work with. When people who discuss genocide believe that their purpose in life is not to use something because it is too lethal, it supports careful handling of these substances. They say that one day a ton of the substance spilled and a fire started, and 30.5 cm of concrete and a meter of sand and gravel burned out until everything calmed down. Unfortunately, the Nazis were right.
3. The most poisonous substance
Tell me, what would you least like to get on your face? This could well be the deadliest poison, which would rightfully take 3rd place among the main extreme substances. Such a poison is indeed different from what burns through concrete, and from the strongest acid in the world (which will soon be invented). Although not entirely true, you have all undoubtedly heard from the medical community about Botox, and thanks to it, the deadliest poison has become famous. Botox uses botulinum toxin, produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, and it is very deadly, with the amount of a grain of salt being enough to kill a 200-pound person. In fact, scientists have calculated that spraying just 4 kg of this substance is enough to kill all people on earth. An eagle would probably treat a rattlesnake much more humanely than this poison would treat a person.
4. The hottest substance
There are very few things in the world known to man that are hotter than the inside of a freshly microwaved Hot Pocket, but this stuff looks set to break that record too. Created by colliding gold atoms at nearly the speed of light, the substance is called quark-gluon "soup" and reaches a crazy 4 trillion degrees Celsius, which is almost 250,000 times hotter than the stuff inside the Sun. The amount of energy released during the collision would be enough to melt protons and neutrons, which itself has features you wouldn't even suspect. Scientists say this material could give us a glimpse of what the birth of our universe was like, so it's worth understanding that tiny supernovae aren't created for fun. However, the really good news is that the "soup" took up one trillionth of a centimeter and lasted for a trillionth of one trillionth of a second.
5. The most caustic acid
Acid is a terrible substance, one of the scariest monsters in cinema was given acid blood to make him even more terrible than just a killing machine (Alien), so it is ingrained within us that exposure to acid is a very bad thing. If the "aliens" were filled with fluoride-antimony acid, not only would they fall deep through the floor, but the fumes emitted from their dead bodies would kill everything around them. This acid is 21019 times stronger than sulfuric acid and can seep through glass. And it can explode if you add water. And during its reaction, toxic fumes are released that can kill anyone in the room.
6. The most explosive explosive
In fact, this place is currently shared by two components: HMX and heptanitrocubane. Heptanitrocubane mainly exists in laboratories, and is similar to HMX, but has a denser crystal structure, which carries a greater potential for destruction. HMX, on the other hand, exists in large enough quantities that it can threaten physical existence. It is used in solid fuel for rockets, and even for nuclear weapons detonators. And the last one is the worst, because despite how easily it happens in the movies, starting the fission/fusion reaction that results in bright glowing nuclear clouds that look like mushrooms is not an easy task, but HMX does it perfectly.
7. The most radioactive substance
Speaking of radiation, it's worth mentioning that the glowing green "plutonium" rods shown in The Simpsons are just fiction. Just because something is radioactive doesn't mean it glows. It's worth mentioning because polonium-210 is so radioactive that it glows blue. Former Soviet spy Alexander Litvinenko was misled into having the substance added to his food and died of cancer soon after. This is not something you want to joke about; the glow is caused by the air around the material being affected by radiation, and, in fact, objects around it can heat up. When we say “radiation,” we think, for example, of a nuclear reactor or explosion where a fission reaction actually occurs. This is only the release of ionized particles, and not the out-of-control splitting of atoms.
8. The heaviest substance
If you thought the heaviest substance on Earth was diamonds, it was a good but inaccurate guess. This is a technically engineered diamond nanorod. This is actually a collection of nano-scale diamonds, with the lowest degree of compression and the heaviest substance, known to man. It doesn't actually exist, but that would be pretty handy since it means that someday we could cover our cars with this stuff and just get rid of it when a train collision occurs (not a realistic event). This substance was invented in Germany in 2005 and will probably be used to the same extent as industrial diamonds, except that the new substance is more resistant to wear and tear than regular diamonds.
9. The most magnetic substance
If the inductor were a small black piece, then it would be the same substance. The substance, developed in 2010 from iron and nitrogen, has magnetic powers that are 18% greater than the previous record holder and is so powerful that it has forced scientists to reconsider how magnetism works. The person who discovered this substance distanced himself from his studies so that no other scientist could reproduce his work, since it was reported that a similar compound was developed in Japan in the past in 1996, but other physicists could not reproduce it, so this substance was not officially accepted. It is unclear whether Japanese physicists should promise to make Sepuku under these circumstances. If this substance can be reproduced, it could mean new Age efficient electronics and magnetic motors, possibly increased in power by an order of magnitude.
10. The strongest superfluidity
Superfluidity is a state of matter (either solid or gaseous) that occurs at extremely low temperatures, has high thermal conductivity (every ounce of that substance must be at exactly the same temperature) and no viscosity. Helium-2 is the most typical representative. The helium-2 cup will spontaneously rise and spill out of the container. Helium-2 will also leak through other solid materials, as the complete lack of friction allows it to flow through other invisible holes that regular helium (or water for that matter) would not leak through. Helium-2 does not come into its proper state at number 1, as if it has the ability to act on its own, although it is also the most efficient thermal conductor on Earth, several hundred times better than copper. Heat moves so quickly through Helium-2 that it travels in waves, like sound (known actually as "second sound"), rather than being dissipated, where it simply moves from one molecule to another. By the way, the forces that control the ability of helium-2 to crawl along the wall are called the “third sound.” You're unlikely to get anything more extreme than a substance that required the definition of 2 new types of sound.
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Among substances, they always try to single out those that have the most extreme degree of a certain property. People have always been attracted to the hardest materials, the lightest or heaviest, easy and refractory. We invented the concept of an ideal gas and an ideal black body, and then tried to find natural analogues as close as possible to these models. As a result, man managed to find or create amazing substances.
1. 
This substance is capable of absorbing up to 99.9% of light, an almost perfect black body. It was obtained from specially connected layers of carbon nanotubes. The surface of the resulting material is rough and practically does not reflect light. The areas of application for such a substance are vast, from superconducting systems to improving the properties of optical systems. For example, through the use of such material it would be possible to improve the quality of telescopes and greatly increase the efficiency of solar panels.
2. 
Few people haven't heard of napalm. But this is only one of the representatives of the class of strong flammable substances. These include styrofoam, and especially chlorine trifluoride. This powerful oxidizing agent can ignite even glass and reacts violently with almost all inorganic and organic compounds. There are known cases when a spilled ton of chlorine trifluoride as a result of a fire burned 30 centimeters deep into the concrete surface of the site and another meter of gravel and sand cushion. There were attempts to use the substance as a chemical warfare agent or rocket fuel, but they were abandoned due to too great a danger.
3. 
The strongest poison on earth is also one of the most popular cosmetics. We are talking about botulinum toxins, used in cosmetology under the name botox. This substance is a waste product of the bacteria Clostridium botulinum and has the highest molecular weight among proteins. This is what determines its properties as the most powerful toxic substance. 0.00002 mg min/l of dry matter is enough to make the affected area fatal to humans for 12 hours. In addition, this substance is perfectly absorbed from the mucous membranes and causes severe neurological symptoms.
4. 
Nuclear bonfires burn in the depths of stars, reaching unimaginable temperatures. But man managed to get closer to these figures, obtaining a quark-gluon “soup”. This substance has a temperature of 4 trillion degrees Celsius, which is 250 thousand times hotter than the Sun. It was obtained by colliding gold atoms at almost light speed, as a result of which neutrons and protons were melted. True, this substance existed for only a trillionth of one trillionth of a second and occupied one trillionth of a centimeter.
5. 
In this nomination, the record holder is fluoride-antimony acid. It is 21019 times more caustic than sulfuric acid, capable of melting glass and exploding when water is added. In addition, it emits deadly toxic fumes.
6. 
HMX It is the most powerful explosive and is also resistant to high temperatures. This is what makes it indispensable in military affairs - for creating shaped charges, plastics, powerful explosives, and fillers for fuses of nuclear charges. HMX is also used for peaceful purposes, for example, when drilling high-temperature gas and oil wells, and also as a component of solid rocket fuel. HMX also has an analogue, heptanitrocubane, which has even greater explosive power, but is also more expensive, and therefore used more in laboratory conditions.
This substance does not have stable isotopes in nature, but it generates a huge amount of radioactive radiation. Some of the isotopes, " polonium-210", is used to create very light, compact and at the same time very powerful neutron sources. In addition, in alloys with certain metals, polonium is used to create heat sources for nuclear plants; in particular, such devices are used in space. Moreover, due to the short half-life of this isotope, it is a highly toxic substance that can cause severe radiation sickness.
8. 
In 2005, German scientists constructed a substance in the form of a diamond nanorod. It is a collection of diamonds on a nanoscale. Such a substance has the lowest degree of compression and the highest specific density known to mankind. In addition, a coating made of such a material will have enormous wear resistance.
9. 
Another creation of specialists from laboratories. It was obtained on the basis of iron and nitrogen in 2010. For now, the details are kept secret, since the previous substance in 1996 could not be reproduced again. But it is already known that the record holder has 18% stronger magnetic properties than the closest analogue. If this substance becomes available on an industrial scale, then we can expect the emergence of powerful electromagnetic motors.
10. The strongest superfluidity
The strongest stable oxidizing agent, is a complex of krypton difluoride and antimony pentafluoride. Due to its strong oxidizing effect (oxidizes all elements to higher oxidation states, including oxygen and nitrogen in the air), it is very difficult for it to measure the electrode potential. The only solvent that reacts with it slowly enough is anhydrous hydrogen fluoride.
The densest substance, is osmium. Its density is 22.5 g/cm3.
The lightest metal- this is lithium. Its density is 0.543 g/cm3.
The most expensive metal- this is Californian. Its current cost is $6,500,000 per gram.
The most abundant element in the earth's crust- this is oxygen. Its content is 49% of the mass of the earth's crust.
The rarest element in the earth's crust- this is astatine. Its content in the entire earth's crust, according to experts, is only 0.16 grams.
The most flammable substance, is apparently a fine zirconium powder. To prevent it from burning, it is necessary to place it in an inert gas atmosphere on a plate made of a material that does not contain non-metals.
Substance with the lowest boiling point, is helium. Its boiling point is -269 degrees Celsius. Helium is the only substance that does not have a melting point at normal pressure. Even at absolute zero it remains liquid. Liquid helium is widely used in cryogenic technology.
The most refractory metal- this is tungsten. Its melting point is +3420 degrees Celsius. It is used to make filaments for light bulbs.
The most refractory material is an alloy of hafnium and tantalum carbides (1:1). It has a melting point of +4215 C.
The most fusible metal, is mercury. Its melting point is -38.87 degrees Celsius. She is also the heaviest liquid, its density is 13.54 g/cm 3 .
Highest solubility in water among solids has antimony trichloride. Its solubility at +25 C is 9880 grams per liter.
The lightest gas, is hydrogen. The mass of 1 liter is only 0.08988 grams.
Heaviest gas at room temperature, is tungsten hexafluoride (bp +17 C). Its mass is 12.9 g/l, i.e. Some types of foam may float in it.
The most acid-resistant metal, is iridium. Until now, not a single acid or mixture thereof is known in which it would dissolve.
Widest range of concentration explosive limits has carbon disulfide. All mixtures of carbon disulfide vapor with air containing from 1 to 50 volume percent carbon disulfide can explode.
The strongest stable acid is a solution of antimony pentafluoride in hydrogen fluoride. Depending on the concentration of antimony pentafluoride, this acid can have a Hammett index of up to -40.
The most unusual anion in salt is an electron. It is part of the 18-crown-6 sodium complex electride.
Records for organic matter
The most bitter substance, is denatonium saccharinate. It was obtained by accident during research on denatonium benzoate. The combination of the latter with the sodium salt of saccharin produced a substance 5 times more bitter than the previous record holder (denatonia benzoate). Currently, both of these substances are used to denature alcohol and other non-food products.
The most powerful poison, is a botulinum toxin type A. Its lethal dose for mice (LD50, intraperitoneal) is 0.000026 μg/kg body weight. It is a protein with a molecular weight of 150,000 produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum.
The most non-toxic organic substance, is methane. When its concentration increases, intoxication occurs due to a lack of oxygen, and not as a result of poisoning.
The strongest adsorbent, was obtained in 1974 from a derivative of starch, acrylamide and acrylic acid. This substance is capable of holding water, the mass of which is 1300 times greater than its own.
The most smelly compounds, are ethyl selenol and butyl mercaptan. The concentration that a person can detect by smell is so small that there are still no methods to accurately determine it. It is estimated to be 2 nanograms per cubic meter of air.
The most powerful hallucinogenic substance, is l-lysergic acid diethylamide. A dose of just 100 micrograms causes hallucinations that last for about a day.
The sweetest substance, is N-(N-cyclononylamino(4-cyanophenylimino)methyl)-2-aminoacetic acid. This substance is 200,000 times sweeter than a 2% sucrose solution, but due to its toxicity, it apparently will not find use as a sweetener. Of the industrial substances, the sweetest is talin, which is 3,500 - 6,000 times sweeter than sucrose.
The slowest enzyme, is a nitrogenase that catalyzes the assimilation of atmospheric nitrogen by nodule bacteria. The complete cycle of converting one nitrogen molecule into 2 ammonium ions takes one and a half seconds.
The most powerful narcotic analgesic is apparently a substance synthesized in Canada in the 80s. Its effective analgesic dose in mice (subcutaneous administration) is only 3.7 nanograms per kilogram of body weight, making it 500 times more potent than etorphine.
Organic matter with the highest nitrogen content is bis(diazotetrazolyl)hydrazine. It contains 87.5% nitrogen. This explosive is extremely sensitive to shock, friction and heat.
Substance with the highest molecular weight is snail hemocyanin (carries oxygen). Its molecular weight is 918,000,000 daltons, which is greater than the molecular weight of even DNA.
