What is Rhenium atom?

     

Rhenium is a chemical element with the symbol Re and atomic number 75.  It is a silvery-gray heavy, third-row transition metal in group 7 of the periodic table.  With an estimated average concentration of 1 part per billion rhenium is one of the rarest elements in the earth's crust.  Rhenium has the third-highest melting point an second-highest boiling point of any stable element at 5903 K.  Rhenium resembles manganese and technetium chemically and is mainly obtained as a by-product of the extraction and refinement of molybdenum and copper ores.  Rhenium shows in its compounds a wide variety of oxidation states ranging from-1 to +7.

     Discovered in 1908, rhenium was the second-last stable element to be discovered (the last being hafnium).  It was named after the river Rhine in Europe.

     Nickel-based superalloys of rhenium are used in the combustion chambers, turbine blades, and exhaust nozzles of jet engines.  These alloys contain up to 6% rhenium, making jet engine construction the largest single use for the element.  The second-most important use is as a catalyst; rhenium is an excellent catalyst for hydrogenation and isomerization, and is used for example in catalytic reforming of naphtha for use in gasoline.