Rhenium Facts (Re or Atomic Number 75)

Rhenium element facts

Dr. Helmenstine holds a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences and is a science writer, educator, and consultant. She has taught science courses at the high school, college, and graduate levels.

Updated on December 07, 2019

Rhenium is a heavy, silvery-white transition metal. It has element symbol Re and atomic number 75. The element's properties were predicted by Mendeleev when he designed his periodic table. Here is a collection of rhenium element facts.

Rhenium Basic Facts

Symbol: Re

Atomic Number: 75

Atomic Weight: 186.207

Electron Configuration: [Xe] 4f 14 5d 5 6s 2

Element Classification: Transition Metal

Discovery: Walter Noddack, Ida Tacke, Otto Berg 1925 (Germany)

Name Origin: Latin: Rhenus, the Rhine River.

Uses: Rhenium is used to make high-temperature superalloys that are used in jet engines (70% of rhenium production). The element is also used to prepare platinum-rhenium catalysts used to make high-octane unleaded gasoline. The radioactive isotopes rhenium-188 and rhenium-186 are used to treat liver cancer and may be applicable to pancreatic cancer.

Biological Role: Rhenium serves no known biological role. Because the elements and its compounds are used in small amounts, they have not been widely studied for toxicity. Two compounds studied in rats (rhenium trichloride and potassium perrhenate) displayed very low toxicity, comparable to that of table salt (sodium chloride).

Rhenium Physical Data

Density (g/cc): 21.02

Melting Point (K): 3453

Boiling Point (K): 5900

Appearance: dense, silvery-white metal

Atomic Radius (pm): 137

Atomic Volume (cc/mol): 8.85

Covalent Radius (pm): 128

Ionic Radius: 53 (+7e) 72 (+4e)

Specific Heat (@20°C J/g mol): 0.138

Fusion Heat (kJ/mol): 34

Evaporation Heat (kJ/mol): 704

Debye Temperature (K): 416.00

Pauling Negativity Number: 1.9

First Ionizing Energy (kJ/mol): 759.1

Oxidation States: 5, 4, 3, 2, -1

Lattice Structure: hexagonal

Lattice Constant (Å): 2.760

Lattice C/A Ratio: 1.615

Sources

Emsley, John (2011). Nature's building blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-960563-7.
Greenwood, Norman N.; Earnshaw, Alan (1997). Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-08-037941-8.
Hammond, C. R. (2004). The Elements, in Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (81st ed.). CRC press. ISBN 978-0-8493-0485-9.
Scerri, Eric (2013). A Tale of Seven Elements. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-539131-2.
Weast, Robert (1984). CRC, Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Boca Raton, Florida: Chemical Rubber Company Publishing. pp. E110. ISBN 0-8493-0464-4.

Cite this Article Your Citation

Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. "Rhenium Facts (Re or Atomic Number 75)." ThoughtCo, Jun. 25, 2024, thoughtco.com/rhenium-facts-606585. Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. (2024, June 25). Rhenium Facts (Re or Atomic Number 75). Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/rhenium-facts-606585 Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. "Rhenium Facts (Re or Atomic Number 75)." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/rhenium-facts-606585 (accessed September 9, 2024).

copy citation 10 Tungsten Facts - W or Atomic Number 74 Element Discovery Timeline Tantalum Facts (Atomic Number 73 and Element Symbol Ta) Technetium or Masurium Facts Atom Diagrams Showing Electron Shell Configurations of the Elements Hydrogen Facts - H or Atomic Number 1 Nitrogen or Azote Facts Atomic Number One on the Periodic Table Hydrogen Facts - Element 1 or H 10 Nickel Element Facts Chlorine Facts (Cl or Atomic Number 17) First 20 Elements of the Periodic Table Europium Facts - Element Atomic Number 63 Carbon Facts - Atomic Number 6 or C Holmium Facts - Element Atomic Number 67 Terbium Facts - Tb or Atomic Number 65

About Us
Advertise
Careers
Privacy Policy
Editorial Guidelines
Contact
Terms of Service
EU Privacy

ThoughtCo is part of the Dotdash Meredith publishing family.

We Care About Your Privacy

We and our 100 partners store and/or access information on a device, such as unique IDs in cookies to process personal data. You may accept or manage your choices by clicking below, including your right to object where legitimate interest is used, or at any time in the privacy policy page. These choices will be signaled to our partners and will not affect browsing data.

We and our partners process data to provide:

Store and/or access information on a device. Use limited data to select advertising. Create profiles for personalised advertising. Use profiles to select personalised advertising. Create profiles to personalise content. Use profiles to select personalised content. Measure advertising performance. Measure content performance. Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources. Develop and improve services. Use limited data to select content. List of Partners (vendors)