Chemical elements are building blocks of everything we see around us. There are 118 recognized elements, 94 of which occur naturally including iron, silver and gold, while others are synthetic, some examples of which are curium and californium. This list contains 8 earth elements that are extremely rare, and some of them have demand in the market, which makes them some of the most expensive elements on the planet.
Francium
Although one gram of francium has never been observed. Because The half life of this element is about 22 minutes, which means any viewable quantity of the element would immediately vaporize. But it is assumed that francium would appear as a highly reactive metal.
Californium
This element was first developed in 1950 at the University of California Radiation Laboratory, by bombarding curium with alpha particles. Since then only few gram of it has been produced. The estimated cost of one gram californium is about $27 million, which make perfect sense considering the fact that the global production of californium is half gram per year.
Carbon
Carbon is one of the most essential elements for life. Although a large amount of it is present in all of our bodies, and things like coal and graphite aren’t expensive as we all know. But if carbon atoms arranged in certain order it can have an extremely high value. In the form of diamond, carbon can cost you as much as $65,000 for one gram.
Plutonium
The major use of plutonium as you might know is in nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors. Both plutonium-239 and plutonium-241 are fissile, meaning that they can sustain a nuclear chain reaction. Plutonium is highly radioactive which makes it extremely dangerous to handle. However, if you’re still willing to buy this element expect to pay at least $4000 per gram.
Scandium
Scandium is another rare earth metal that has high price due to rarity. It was observed in 1970s that scandium effects positively on aluminum alloys. To this day its use in such alloys remains its only major application. The global trade of scandium oxide is about 10 tonnes per year, and costs at least $270 per gram.
Lutetium
Lutetium is also counted among rare earth metals. But unlike lanthanum, lutetium has very few commercial uses. However, stable lutetium can be used as catalysts in petroleum cracking in refineries and can also be used in alkylation, hydrogenation, and polymerization applications.
Platinum
Platinum is yet another extremely low reactive metal. It has remarkable resistance to corrosion, even at high temperatures. Due to its rarity, only few hundred tonnes are produced annually. Other than being used as jewelry, it has several practical application in various different fields such as automobiles, dentistry and even medicine.
Gold
Gold is one of the most widely known and used elements in the world, especially in jewelry. Almost every ancient civilization on earth considered this metal to be valuable. Science, it also proves that some of the characteristics of gold makes it perfect for electronic use, though high cost is the biggest hurdle to use it in wires. So, we’re stuck with cheaper and inferior alternatives.
