Uploaded January 2021 | Updated September 2026, 23 hours ago
Our beautiful blue ball is home to a plethora of rare materials. Some are more commonly
known, while other’s seem to have been ripped straight from the pages of sci-fi novels.
Here are 12 of the rarest materials, that we know
of, on earth.
- -
#12 Rhinoceros Horn .Traditionally used in Chinese medicine, but because modern medicine
has deemed it useless, the Rhinoceros Horn has become a status symbol of wealth and power.
Made of hair and Keratin, the same materials that make up human nails, the Rhino horn is
little more valuable than your toe nail clippings, but because of the Rhino’s fast approach
to extinction and the unfaltering cruelty of poachers and buyers alike, poached Rhino
horns are sold for around $120 per gram on the black-market. The near annihilation of
a species just to feed the greed and egos of the elite.
#11 Saffron Many people are unaware that some spices are
considered “precious” and can cost as much as the rarest of metals. Saffron is the
pinnacle of said spices. Costing as much as $500.00 an ounce, this sweet and bitter spice
is famous in traditional Italian, French, and Indian cuisine.
#10 Rhodium This silvery-white metal is cherished
for its reflective and anti-corrosion properties as well as being a chemically inert transition
metal. Almost 85% of the Rhodium produced is used as a catalyst in an automobile’s
three-way catalytic converter. .
#9 Osmium
Wearing the crown for the Densest Naturally Occurring Element, Osmium is a blue-white
and hard metal found within the Platinum group. Another -- heavier -- crown it bears is that
of the “Least Abundant ‘Stable’ Element” within the earth’s crust. It has an even
number on the periodic table which states, according to the OddoHarkins rule, its more
abundant in space than it is on earth. It is mainly produced, however, from the wastes
of nickel refining. Osmium is never used in its pure state due to its oxide’s extreme
volatility and toxicity, and can be found in only a few products: Needles, instrument
pivots, fountain pen tips, and electrical contacts. Though no where near the worth of
some other elements on the list, Osmium falls in around $400 per try ounce -- far from cheap.
#8 Plutonium I’m sure you’ve heard its name dropped in a ridiculous amount of movies
in which some cliche terrorist group has stolen a cache of it with the intent to build a bom*
that the hero must miraculously diffuse in the last three seconds of its timer. Partly
true in that it is used in the creation of nuclear bombs, Plutonium has a plethora of
other, more beneficial, uses such as an energy source for spacecraft and even as a power
source for pace makers -- one that reduces the risk repeated, surgical intrusion. Costing
around $4,000 per gram, I can assure you, Plutonium, besides its heavy radioactivity
and heavy metal toxicity, is not as easy to come by as the movies make it seem.
#7 Tritium
Also known as Hydrogen-3, Tritium, a gas, is a radio luminescent, radioactive isotope.
For general use, it is used in beta-lights, or self-powered lighting, that is found in
gu* sights, watch faces, street signs, and many other products that glow its recognizable
neon hue. For not-so-general use, it is used in the creation of nuclear fission and nuclear
weapons.
#6 Diamond ) The most famous of all...and infamous...
Without having to be said, Diamonds are rare beauties to behold.
)With only a few hundred of these stones in existence today, Painite, until recently,
was the world’s rarest gemstone. Diamonds are common compared to the likes of this stone.
.
#4 Red Diamonds Yes, they are diamonds, but most are unaware
diamonds come in a variety of colors, each rarer than the last. From least to rarest,
the colors of diamond are yellow, brown, colorless, blue, green, black, pink, orange, purple and
red.
. #3 Astatine
Astatine is the rarest natural element on earth. In its natural state, Astatine has
a half-life of 8 hrs., So even if someone were to discover some, and managed to spot
it with their naked eye, half of it would be unusable at the day’s end. It is named
after the Greek word Astatos, or unstable, for this very reason.
So how does one use an element with such instability and life-span? Well, you create it, which
is exactly what scientists do. .
#2 Californium Named after the university in which it was
first synthesized, Californium is a radioactive, man made element first discovered in 1950
by colliding curium with alpha particles in a particle accelerator, or a a byproduct within
nuclear reactors.
#1 Anti Matter
Theorized to be the fuel for future spacecraft that can traverse the stars (Yea, Star Trek
was right), Antimatter is the single most expensive material on earth. Costing nearly
25 million to produce a milligram of positrons (that’s 62.5 trillion per gram)
#DownTheRabbithole #rarestmaterials #materials
Our beautiful blue ball is home to a plethora of rare materials. Some are more commonly
known, while other’s seem to have been ripped straight from the pages of sci-fi novels.
Here are 12 of the rarest materials, that we know
of, on earth.
- -
#12 Rhinoceros Horn .Traditionally used in Chinese medicine, but because modern medicine
has deemed it useless, the Rhinoceros Horn has become a status symbol of wealth and power.
Made of hair and Keratin, the same materials that make up human nails, the Rhino horn is
little more valuable than your toe nail clippings, but because of the Rhino’s fast approach
to extinction and the unfaltering cruelty of poachers and buyers alike, poached Rhino
horns are sold for around $120 per gram on the black-market. The near annihilation of
a species just to feed the greed and egos of the elite.
#11 Saffron Many people are unaware that some spices are
considered “precious” and can cost as much as the rarest of metals. Saffron is the
pinnacle of said spices. Costing as much as $500.00 an ounce, this sweet and bitter spice
is famous in traditional Italian, French, and Indian cuisine.
#10 Rhodium This silvery-white metal is cherished
for its reflective and anti-corrosion properties as well as being a chemically inert transition
metal. Almost 85% of the Rhodium produced is used as a catalyst in an automobile’s
three-way catalytic converter. .
#9 Osmium
Wearing the crown for the Densest Naturally Occurring Element, Osmium is a blue-white
and hard metal found within the Platinum group. Another -- heavier -- crown it bears is that
of the “Least Abundant ‘Stable’ Element” within the earth’s crust. It has an even
number on the periodic table which states, according to the OddoHarkins rule, its more
abundant in space than it is on earth. It is mainly produced, however, from the wastes
of nickel refining. Osmium is never used in its pure state due to its oxide’s extreme
volatility and toxicity, and can be found in only a few products: Needles, instrument
pivots, fountain pen tips, and electrical contacts. Though no where near the worth of
some other elements on the list, Osmium falls in around $400 per try ounce -- far from cheap.
#8 Plutonium I’m sure you’ve heard its name dropped in a ridiculous amount of movies
in which some cliche terrorist group has stolen a cache of it with the intent to build a bom*
that the hero must miraculously diffuse in the last three seconds of its timer. Partly
true in that it is used in the creation of nuclear bombs, Plutonium has a plethora of
other, more beneficial, uses such as an energy source for spacecraft and even as a power
source for pace makers -- one that reduces the risk repeated, surgical intrusion. Costing
around $4,000 per gram, I can assure you, Plutonium, besides its heavy radioactivity
and heavy metal toxicity, is not as easy to come by as the movies make it seem.
#7 Tritium
Also known as Hydrogen-3, Tritium, a gas, is a radio luminescent, radioactive isotope.
For general use, it is used in beta-lights, or self-powered lighting, that is found in
gu* sights, watch faces, street signs, and many other products that glow its recognizable
neon hue. For not-so-general use, it is used in the creation of nuclear fission and nuclear
weapons.
#6 Diamond ) The most famous of all...and infamous...
Without having to be said, Diamonds are rare beauties to behold.
)With only a few hundred of these stones in existence today, Painite, until recently,
was the world’s rarest gemstone. Diamonds are common compared to the likes of this stone.
.
#4 Red Diamonds Yes, they are diamonds, but most are unaware
diamonds come in a variety of colors, each rarer than the last. From least to rarest,
the colors of diamond are yellow, brown, colorless, blue, green, black, pink, orange, purple and
red.
. #3 Astatine
Astatine is the rarest natural element on earth. In its natural state, Astatine has
a half-life of 8 hrs., So even if someone were to discover some, and managed to spot
it with their naked eye, half of it would be unusable at the day’s end. It is named
after the Greek word Astatos, or unstable, for this very reason.
So how does one use an element with such instability and life-span? Well, you create it, which
is exactly what scientists do. .
#2 Californium Named after the university in which it was
first synthesized, Californium is a radioactive, man made element first discovered in 1950
by colliding curium with alpha particles in a particle accelerator, or a a byproduct within
nuclear reactors.
#1 Anti Matter
Theorized to be the fuel for future spacecraft that can traverse the stars (Yea, Star Trek
was right), Antimatter is the single most expensive material on earth. Costing nearly
25 million to produce a milligram of positrons (that’s 62.5 trillion per gram)
#DownTheRabbithole #rarestmaterials #materials
