Etherium
 Etherium ore | |
| General information | |
|---|---|
| Symbol | Et |
| Number | 164 |
| Appearance | Lustrous, bluish-white, hard |
| Atomic weight | 474 u |
| Category | Noble metal |
| Group | 10 |
| Electron configuration | 7d^10(9s^0) |
| Number of electrons | 164 |
| Number of protons | 164 |
| Number of neutrons | 318 |
| Color | Bluish-white |
| Melting Point | 1774°C (3215°F) |
| Boiling Point | 3827°C (6920°F) |
| Density | 46 g/cm^3 |
| Vapor pressure | 0 mmHg |
| Ionization energy | 685 kJ/mol |
Etherium is a rare and highly conductive metal found abundantly on the planet Hemisu and its three moons. Its unique properties, including superconductivity at room temperature and the ability to store vast amounts of energy with minimal loss, make it a highly sought after resource for technological, industrial, and energy-related applications.
Characteristics
Etherium is a hard, blue-gray metal, and the second-densest stable element—about twice as dense as lead. Etherium has a blue-gray tint. The reflectivity of single crystals of etherium is complex and strongly direction-dependent, with light in the red and near-infrared wavelengths being more strongly absorbed when polarized parallel to the c crystal axis than when polarized perpendicular to the c axis; the c-parallel polarization is also slightly more reflected in the mid-ultraviolet range. Reflectivity reaches a sharp minimum at around 1.5 eV (near-infrared) for the c-parallel polarization and at 2.0 eV (orange) for the c-perpendicular polarization, and peaks for both in the visible spectrum at around 3.0 eV (blue-violet).
Etherium is a hard metal that remains lustrous even at high temperatures. It has a very low compressibility. Correspondingly, its bulk modulus is extremely high, reported between 395 and 462 GPa, which rivals that of diamond (443 GPa). The hardness of etherium is moderately high at 4 GPa.
Origin and occurence in nature
Etherium is one of the rarest naturally occuring stable-elements in the Talin Galaxy. The only known origin of etherium is found on Hemisu and its three moons, but efforts are being made to look for it elsewhere. Etherium is the fifth abundant element in Hemisu's crust (after oxygen, silicon, aluminum, and iron).
Large deposits of etherium are banded ether formations, a type of rock consisting of repeated thin layers of iron oxides. The banded etherium formations were laid down in the time between 3,700 million years ago and 1,800 million years ago.
Chemistry and compounds
Etherium forms compounds with oxidation states ranging from +2 to +6. The most common include +2, +4, and +6, forming compounds Et)CO)4, Et(PF3)4, and Et(CN)2-2. Due to the lanthanide, actinide, and superactinide contractions, etherium has a metallic radius of only 158 pm, very close to that of the much lighter magnesium, despite its expected atomic weight of around 474 u which is about 19.5 times the atomic weight of magnesium. This small radius and high weight cause it to have an extremely high density of around 46 g·cm−3, over twice that of osmium at 22.61 g·cm−3; etherium is the second most dense element in the periodic table, with only its neighbor unhextrium (element 163) being more dense (at 47 g·cm−3). Metallic etherium has a very large cohesive energy (enthalpy of crystallization) due to its covalent bonds, resulting in a high melting point. In the metallic state, etherium is quite noble and analogous to palladium and platinum.