The strongest stable oxidizing agent, is a complex of krypton difluoride and antimony pentafluoride. Due to its strong oxidizing effect (oxidizes all elements to the highest 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 rather slowly is anhydrous hydrogen fluoride.

The densest substance, is osmium. Its density is 22.5 g/cm 3 .

The lightest metal is lithium. Its density is 0.543 g/cm 3 .

most expensive metal is California. Its cost is currently $6,500,000 per 1 gram.

The most abundant element in the earth's crust is oxygen. Its content is 49% of the mass of the earth's crust.

The rarest element in the earth's crust is astatine. Its content in the entire earth's crust, according to experts, is only 0.16 grams.

most combustible substance, is apparently a fine powder of zirconium. In order 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.

The 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 is tungsten. Its melting point is +3420 degrees Celsius. It is used to make filaments for electric light bulbs.

The hardest material is an alloy of hafnium and tantalum carbides (1:1). It has a melting point of +4215 C.

The lightest 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 water solubility 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 can float in it.

Most acid resistant metal, is iridium. Until now, no acid or mixture of them is known in which it would dissolve.

The widest range of explosive concentration limits has carbon disulfide. All mixtures of carbon disulfide vapors with air containing from 1 to 50 volume percent of 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 electride 18-crown-6 sodium complex.

Records for organics

The bitterest substance, is denatonium saccharinate. It was obtained by accident, during the study of denatonium benzoate. The combination of the latter with the sodium salt of saccharin gave a substance 5 times more bitter than the previous record holder (denatonium benzoate). Currently, both of these substances are used to denature alcohol and other non-food products.

The strongest poison, is botulinum toxin type A. Its lethal dose for mice (LD50, intraperitoneally) is 0.000026 µg/kg body weight. It is a 150,000 molecular weight protein produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum.

The most non-toxic organic substance, is methane. With an increase in its concentration, intoxication occurs due to a lack of oxygen, and not as a result of poisoning.

The strongest adsorbent, was obtained in 1974 from a starch derivative, acrylamide and acrylic acid. This substance is able to hold water, the mass of which is 1300 times greater than its own.

The most stinking compounds are ethylselenol and butylmercaptan. The concentration that a person can detect by smell is so small that there are still no methods to accurately determine it. Its value 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 lasting 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 be used as a sweetener. Of the industrial substances, the sweetest is talin, which is 3,500 to 6,000 times sweeter than sucrose.

The slowest enzyme, is a nitrogenase that catalyzes the assimilation of atmospheric nitrogen by nodule bacteria. The full cycle of transformation of 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 (subcutaneously) 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 impact, friction and heat.

The substance with the highest molecular weight is snail hemocyanin (carries oxygen). Its molecular weight is 918,000,000 daltons, which is more than the molecular weight of even DNA.

Among the substances always try to select those that have the most extreme degree of a particular property. People have always been attracted to the hardest materials, the lightest or heaviest, light 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. The blackest substance

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 extensive - from superconducting systems to improving the properties of optical systems. For example, through the use of such a material, it would be possible to raise the quality of telescopes and greatly increase the efficiency of solar batteries.

2. The most combustible substance

Few people have not heard of napalm. But this is only one of the representatives of the class of strong combustible substances. These include styrofoam, and especially chlorine trifluoride. This strongest oxidizing agent can ignite even glass; it reacts violently with almost all inorganic and organic compounds. There are cases when a spilled ton of chlorine trifluoride as a result of a fire burned through the concrete coating of the site and another meter-long gravel-sand cushion deep into 30 centimeters. There were attempts to use the substance as a military poison or rocket fuel, but they were abandoned due to too much danger.

3. Poisonous substance

The strongest poison on earth is also one of the most popular cosmetics. We are talking about botulinum toxins, in cosmetology used under the name Botox. This substance is a product of the vital activity of the bacteria Clostridium botulinum and has the highest molecular weight among proteins. This is the reason for its properties as the most powerful poisonous substance. Enough 0.00002 mg.min / l of dry matter to make the affected area deadly for humans for 12 hours. In addition, this substance is perfectly absorbed from the mucous membranes and causes severe neurological symptoms.

4. The hottest substance

In the depths of the stars, nuclear fires burn, reaching unimaginable temperatures. But man managed to get closer to these figures, having received quark-gluon "soup". This substance has a temperature of 4 trillion degrees Celsius, which is 250,000 times hotter than the sun. It was obtained by colliding gold atoms at almost the speed of light, 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.

In this nomination, fluoride-antimony acid becomes the record holder. It is 21,019 times more corrosive than sulfuric acid and can melt through glass and explode when water is added. In addition, it emits deadly toxic fumes.

6. The most explosive substance

HMX is the most powerful explosive, moreover, resistant to high temperatures. This is what makes it indispensable in military affairs - for creating shaped charges, plastics, powerful explosives, 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 of heptanitrocuban, which has even greater explosive power, but is also more expensive, and therefore is used more in laboratory conditions.

7. The most radioactive substance

This substance does not have stable isotopes in nature, while generating a huge amount of radioactive radiation. One of the isotopes, "polonium-210", is used to create very light, compact and at the same time very powerful neutron sources. In addition, polonium is used in alloys with some metals to create heat sources for nuclear installations, in particular, such devices are used in space. At the same time, due to the short half-life of this isotope, it is a highly toxic substance that can cause severe radiation sickness.

8. The heaviest substance

In 2005, German scientists designed a substance in the form of a diamond nanorod. It is a set of diamonds at the nanoscale. Such a substance has the lowest degree of compression and the highest specific gravity known to mankind. In addition, a coating of such a material will have great wear resistance.

9. The strongest magnetic substance

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 appearance of the most powerful electromagnetic engines.

10. The strongest superfluidity

Helium II has a high thermal conductivity and a complete lack of viscosity at extremely low temperatures, that is, it exhibits the property of superfluidity. It is able to seep through solid materials, spontaneously pour out of any container. This substance can become an ideal thermal conductor in which heat moves more like a wave and does not dissipate.

Used: Out of town

Space. There is nothing more interesting and more mysterious. Day by day, humanity is increasing its knowledge of the universe, while expanding the boundaries of the unknown. Having received ten answers, we ask ourselves a hundred more questions - and so on all the time. We have collected the most interesting facts about the universe, in order not only to satisfy the curiosity of readers, but also to rekindle their interest in the universe with renewed vigor.

The moon is running away from us

The moon is moving away from the Earth - yes, our satellite is “running away” from us at a speed of about 3.8 centimeters per year. What is the risk? With an increase in the radius of the lunar orbit, the size of the lunar disk observed from the Earth decreases. This means that such a phenomenon as a total solar eclipse is under threat.

In addition, some planets rotate from their star at a distance suitable for the existence of water in a liquid state. And this makes it possible to find planets suitable for life. And already in the near future.

What is written in space

American scientists and astronauts have been thinking for a long time about the design of a pen that could be used to write in space, while their Russian colleagues simply decided to use an ordinary slate pencil in zero gravity, without changing it in any way and without spending huge sums on developing concepts and experiments.

diamond rain

According to Jupiter and Saturn, it rains diamonds - thunder constantly rages in the upper atmosphere of these planets, and lightning discharges release carbon from methane molecules. Moving to the surface of the planet and overcoming the hydrogen layers, being subjected to gravity and enormous temperatures, carbon turns into graphite, and then into diamond.

If you believe this hypothesis, up to ten million tons of diamonds can accumulate on the gas giants! At the moment, the hypothesis still remains controversial - many scientists are sure that the proportion of methane in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn is too small, and, having hardly converted even into soot, methane most likely simply dissolves.

These are just a few of the vast mysteries of the universe. Thousands of questions remain unanswered, we still do not know about millions of phenomena and secrets - our generation has something to strive for.

But we will try to tell more about space on the pages of the site. Subscribe to updates so you don't miss a new release!

We present a selection of chemical records from the Guinness Book of Records.
Due to the fact that new substances are constantly being discovered, this selection is not permanent.

Chemical records for inorganic substances

• The most common element in the earth's crust is oxygen O. Its weight content is 49% of the mass of the earth's crust.
• The rarest element in the earth's crust is astatine At. Its content in the entire earth's crust is only 0.16 g. The second place in terms of rarity is occupied by Fr.
• The most common element in the universe is hydrogen H. Approximately 90% of all atoms in the universe are hydrogen. Helium He is the second most abundant in the universe.
• The strongest stable oxidizing agent is a complex of krypton difluoride and antimony pentafluoride. Due to its strong oxidizing effect (it oxidizes almost all elements to the highest oxidation states, including oxidizing atmospheric oxygen), it is very difficult for it to measure the electrode potential. The only solvent that reacts with it rather slowly is anhydrous hydrogen fluoride.
• The densest substance on planet Earth is osmium. The density of osmium is 22.587 g/cm 3 .
• Lithium is the lightest metal. The density of lithium is 0.543 g/cm 3 .
• The densest compound is ditungsten carbide W 2 C. The density of ditungsten carbide is 17.3 g/cm 3 .
• Graphene aerogels are currently the least dense solids. They are a system of graphene and nanotubes filled with air gaps. The lightest of these aerogels has a density of 0.00016 g/cm3. The previous solid with the lowest density is silicon airgel (0.005 g/cm3). Silicon airgel is used in the collection of micrometeorites present in comet tails.
• The lightest gas and, at the same time, the lightest non-metal is hydrogen. The mass of 1 liter of hydrogen is only 0.08988 grams. In addition, hydrogen is also the most fusible non-metal at normal pressure (melting point is -259.19 0 C).
• The lightest liquid is liquid hydrogen. The mass of 1 liter of liquid hydrogen is only 70 grams.
• The heaviest inorganic gas at room temperature is tungsten hexafluoride WF 6 (boiling point is +17 0 C). The density of tungsten hexafluoride as a gas is 12.9 g/l. Among gases with a boiling point below 0 °C, the record belongs to tellurium hexafluoride TeF 6 with a gas density at 25 0 С of 9.9 g/l.
• The most expensive metal in the world is californium Cf. The price of 1 gram of the 252 Cf isotope reaches 500 thousand US dollars.
• Helium He is the substance with the lowest boiling point. Its boiling point is -269 0 C. Helium is the only substance that does not have a melting point at normal pressure. Even at absolute zero, it remains liquid and can only be obtained in solid form under pressure (3 MPa).
• The most refractory metal and the substance with the highest boiling point is tungsten W. The melting point of tungsten is +3420 0 C, and the boiling point is +5680 0 C.
• The most refractory material is an alloy of hafnium and tantalum carbides (1:1) (melting point +4215 0 C)
• The most fusible metal is mercury. The melting point of mercury is -38.87 0 C. Mercury is also the heaviest liquid, its density at 25°C is 13.536 g/cm 3 .
• Iridium is the most resistant metal to acids. Until now, no acid or mixture of them is known in which iridium would dissolve. However, it can be dissolved in alkalis with oxidizing agents.
• The strongest stable acid is a solution of antimony pentafluoride in hydrogen fluoride.
• The hardest metal is chromium Cr.
• The softest metal at 25 0 C is cesium.
• The hardest material is still diamond, although there are already about a dozen substances approaching it in hardness (boron carbide and nitride, titanium nitride, etc.).
• Silver is the most conductive metal at room temperature.
• The lowest speed of sound in liquid helium at 2.18 K is only 3.4 m/s.
• The highest speed of sound in diamond is 18600 m/s.
• The isotope with the shortest half-life is Li-5, which decays in 4.4 10-22 seconds (proton ejection). Because of such a short lifetime, not all scientists recognize the fact of its existence.
• The isotope with the longest measured half-life is Te-128, with a half-life of 2.2 x 1024 years (double β-decay).
• Xenon and cesium have the most number of stable isotopes (36 each).
• The shortest chemical element names are boron and iodine (3 letters each).
• The longest names of a chemical element (eleven letters each) are protactinium Pa, rutherfordium Rf, darmstadtium Ds.

Chemical records for organics

• The heaviest organic gas at room temperature, and the heaviest gas of all at room temperature, is N-(octafluorobut-1-ylidene)-O-trifluoromethylhydroxylamine (b.p. +16 C). Its density as a gas is 12.9 g/l. Among gases with a boiling point below 0°C, the record belongs to perfluorobutane with a gas density at 0°C of 10.6 g/l.
• The most bitter substance is denatonium saccharinate. The combination of denatonium benzoate with the sodium salt of saccharin gave a substance 5 times more bitter than the previous record holder (denatonium benzoate).
• The most non-toxic organic substance is methane. With an increase in its concentration, intoxication occurs due to a lack of oxygen, and not as a result of poisoning.
• The strongest adsorbent for water was obtained in 1974 from a starch derivative, acrylamide and acrylic acid. This substance is able to hold water, the mass of which is 1300 times greater than its own.
• The strongest adsorbent for petroleum products is carbon airgel. 3.5 kg of this substance can absorb 1 ton of oil.
• The most fetid compounds are ethyl selenol and butyl mercaptan - their smell resembles a combination of the smells of rotting cabbage, garlic, onions and sewage at the same time.
• The sweetest substance is N-((2,3-methylenedioxyphenylmethylamino)-(4-cyanophenylimino)methyl)aminoacetic acid (lugduname). This substance is 205,000 times sweeter than a 2% sucrose solution. There are several of its analogues with a similar sweetness. Of industrial substances, the sweetest is talin (a complex of thaumatin and aluminum salts), which is 3,500 to 6,000 times sweeter than sucrose. Recently, neotame has appeared in the food industry with a sweetness 7000 times higher than sucrose.
• The slowest enzyme is nitrogenase, which catalyzes the assimilation of atmospheric nitrogen by nodule bacteria. The full cycle of transformation of one nitrogen molecule into 2 ammonium ions takes one and a half seconds.
• The organic substance with the highest nitrogen content is either bis(diazotetrazolyl)hydrazine C2H2N12, containing 86.6% nitrogen, or tetraazidomethane C(N3)4, containing 93.3% nitrogen (depending on whether the latter is considered organic or not) . These explosives are extremely sensitive to impact, friction and heat. Of inorganic substances, the record certainly belongs to gaseous nitrogen, and of compounds, to hydrazoic acid HN 3 .
• The longest chemical name has 1578 English characters and is a modified nucleotide sequence. This substance is called: Adenosene. N--2'-O-(tetrahydromethoxypyranyl)adenylyl-(3'→5')-4-deamino-4-(2,4-dimethylphenoxy)-2'-O-(tetrahydromethoxypyranyl)cytidylyl-(3'→5 ')-4-deamino-4-(2,4-dimethylphenoxy)-2'-O-(tetrahydromethoxypyranyl)cytidylyl-(3'→5')-N--2'-O-(tetrahydromethoxypyranyl)cytidylyl-(3 '→5')-N--2'-O-(tetrahydromethoxypyranyl)cytidylyl-(3'→5')-N--2'-O-(tetrahydromethoxypyranyl)guanylyl-(3'→5')-N- -2′-O-(tetrahydromethoxypyranyl)guanylyl-(3'→5′)-N--2′-O-(tetrahydromethoxypyranyl)adenylyl-(3′→5′)-N--2′-O-(tetrahydromethoxypyranyl )cytidylyl-(3'→5′)-4-deamino-4-(2,4-dimethylphenoxy)-2′-O-(tetrahydromethoxypyranyl)cytidylyl-(3′→5′)-4-deamino-4-( 2,4-dimethylphenoxy)-2'-O-(tetrahydromethoxypyranyl)cytidylyl-(3'→5')-N--2'-O-(tetrahydromethoxypyranyl)guanylyl-(3'→5')-4-deamino- 4-(2,4-dimethylphenoxy)-2'-O-(tetrahydromethoxypyranyl)cytidylyl-(3'→5')-N--2'-O-(tetrahydromethoxypyranyl)cytidylyl-(3'→5')-N --2'-O-(tetrahydromethoxypyranyl)cytidylyl-(3'→5')-N--2'-O-(tetrahydromethoxypyranyl)adenylyl-(3'→5')-N--2'-O-( tetrahydromethoxypyranyl)cytidylyl-(3'→5′)-N--2′-O-(tetrahydromethoxypyranyl)cytidylyl-(3′→5′)-N--2′,3′-O-(methoxymethylene)-octadecakis( 2-chlorophenyl)ester. 5'-.
• The longest chemical name is DNA isolated from human mitochondria and consisting of 16569 base pairs. The full name of this compound contains about 207,000 characters.
• The system of the largest number of immiscible liquids, again stratified into components after mixing, contains 5 liquids: mineral oil, silicone oil, water, benzyl alcohol and N-perfluoroethylperfluoropyridine.
• The densest organic liquid at room temperature is diiodomethane. Its density is 3.3 g/cm3.
• The most refractory individual organic substances are some aromatic compounds. Of the condensed ones, this is tetrabenzheptacene (melting point +570 C), of the non-condensed ones, p-septiphenyl (melting point of +545 C). There are organic compounds for which the exact melting point is not measured, for example, for hexabenzocoronene it is indicated that its melting point is above 700 C. The product of thermal crosslinking of polyacrylonitrile decomposes at a temperature of about 1000 C.
• The organic substance with the highest boiling point is hexatriaconylcyclohexane. It boils at +551°C.
• The longest alkane is nonacontatrictane C390H782. It was specially synthesized to study the crystallization of polyethylene.
• The longest protein is the muscle protein titin. Its length depends on the type of living organism and localization. Mouse titin, for example, has 35213 amino acid residues (molecular weight 3,906,488 Da), human titin has a length of up to 33,423 amino acid residues (molecular weight 3,713,712 Da).
• The longest genome is the genome of the plant Paris japonica (Paris japonica). It contains 150,000,000,000 base pairs - 50 times more than in humans (3,200,000,000 base pairs).
• The largest molecule is the DNA of the first human chromosome. It contains about 10,000,000,000 atoms.
• The individual explosive with the highest rate of detonation is 4,4'-dinitroazofuroxan. Its measured detonation velocity was 9700 m/s. According to unverified data, ethyl perchlorate has an even higher detonation speed.
• The individual explosive with the highest heat of explosion is ethylene glycol dinitrate. Its heat of explosion is 6606 kJ/kg.
• The strongest organic acid is pentacyanocyclopentadiene.
• Perhaps the strongest base is 2-methylcyclopropenyllithium. The strongest nonionic base is phosphazene, which has a rather complex structure.

This basic list of ten elements is the "heaviest" in terms of density per cubic centimeter. However, note that density is not mass, it simply indicates how tightly packed the mass of a body is.

Now that we understand this, let's take a look at the heaviest ones in the entire universe known to mankind.

10. Tantalum

Density per 1 cm³ - 16.67 g

Tantalum's atomic number is 73. This blue-gray metal is very hard and also has a super high melting point.

9. Uranium (Uranium)


Density per 1 cm³ - 19.05 g

Discovered in 1789 by the German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaport (Martin H. Klaprot), the metal did not become real uranium until almost a hundred years later, in 1841, thanks to the French chemist Eugène Melchior Peligot.

8. Wolframium


Density per 1 cm³ - 19.26 g

Tungsten exists in four different minerals and is also the heaviest of all the elements that play an important biological role.

7. Gold (Aurum)


Density per 1 cm³ - 19.29 g

They say money doesn't grow on trees, which can't be said about gold! Small traces of gold have been found on the leaves of eucalyptus trees.

6. Plutonium (Plutonium)


Density per 1 cm³ - 20.26 g

Plutonium exhibits a colorful oxidation state in aqueous solution, and can also spontaneously change oxidation states and colors! This is a real chameleon among the elements.

5. Neptunium

Density per 1 cm³ - 20.47 g

Named after the planet Neptune, it was discovered by Professor Edwin McMillan in 1940. It also became the first discovered synthetic transuranium element from the actinide family.

4. Rhenium

Density per 1 cm³ - 21.01 g

The name of this chemical element comes from the Latin word "Rhenus", which means "Rhine". It was discovered by Walter Noddack in Germany in 1925.

3. Platinum (Platinum)

Density per 1 cm³ - 21.45 g

One of the most precious metals on this list (along with gold), and is used to make just about everything. As a strange fact: all the mined platinum (down to the last particle) could fit in a medium-sized living room! Not much, really. (Try putting all the gold in it.)

2. Iridium (Iridium)


Density per 1 cm³ - 22.56 g

Iridium was discovered in London in 1803 by the English chemist Smithson Tennant (Smithson Tennant) along with osmium: the elements were present in natural platinum as impurities. Yes, iridium was discovered purely by accident.

1. Osmium


Density per 1 cm³ - 22.59 g

There is nothing heavier (per cubic centimeter) than osmium. The name of this element comes from the ancient Greek word "osme", which means "smell", since the chemical reactions of its dissolution in acid or water are accompanied by an unpleasant, persistent odor.