Osmium military usage.

[Sea Skimmer]

Osmium along with Iridium is the densest elements known IIRC. Would it be superior to Tungsten for armor penetration?

[Enlightenment]

Checked out the cost of Osmium lately? It'd be cheaper to shoot solid gold at the enemy.

[beyond hope]

I'm not sure about the feasability as an armor penetrator, but one problem I notice is rarity and thus the price. Uranium sold for $9.65-$12.20 a pound on the US market in 1995. Compare that to $400 a troy ounce for Osmium in 1995 currency.

[Wicked Pilot]

Density is just one part of the equation. You need to also consider cost, formability, malability, reaction to heat, and numerous other properties that a mechanical engineer could list for you.

[EmperorChrostas the Cruel]

One of the most unrealistic parts of "Hammer's Slammers," (besides ground effect TANKS of 120k ton weight) was the use or irridium for armor, and as the primary metal in the "powerguns".
Irridium is more expensive than platinum, and VERY rare. There might not be enough of it on the PLANET to make 1 tank, providing you could afford to build it.

[EmperorChrostas the Cruel]

Iridium is currently trading at 130 per try ounce.
Osmium is 400. (Osmium was the other principal metal used with the same tech.)

[beyond hope]

Here's what I got for density:

Osmium 22.5 g.cm^-3
Iridium 22.4 g.cm^-3
Gold 19.3 g.cm^-3
Tungsten 19.3 g.cm^-3
Depleted Uranium 19 g.cm^-3

Osmium, Iridium, and Gold are all much more expensive than DU, while Tungsten is more difficult to machine from what I read at least. I also saw Iridium described on one site as "brittle."

Source material here.

[Pu-239]

Don't they make pen nibs out of osmium alloy?

Also don't they make crucibles out of iridium? Or is that indium? Dammit who named these elements? Ugh. Like manganese/magnesium.

[beyond hope]

Hmmm... that name reminds me, how would some of the really heavy man-made elements rate?

[Sea Skimmer]

Cost doesn't concern me and I am aware of it along with the meager supply, but neither factor is an issue for what I want this information for. Only the mechanical properties are an issue, IE would it shatter on impact at lower velocities then DU or Tungsten

[Sea Skimmer]

Hmmm... that name reminds me, how would some of the really heavy man-made elements rate?

Those are all radioactive and don't even last long enough to be photographed IIRC. So even if you created them in the tank, your ammo would be crap before it was out of the gun.

[Sea Skimmer]

Checked out the cost of Osmium lately? It'd be cheaper to shoot solid gold at the enemy.

Gold would splatter on impact with armor. Thought I'd imagine a spray of molten gold would keep the heads down of any local infantry.

[Pu-239]

Well you could use the more stable ones like Plutonium

Pretty stupid though, due to the radiation.

[Pu-239]

I mean the possibility of ingesting, inhaling Pu, since alpha radiation is easily absorbed by skin.

[Sea Skimmer]

Plutonium is only slightly denser then Uranium

[Pu-239]

Fine, amercium, neptunium, et al.

Some isotopes of the superheavy ones have a half-life of months, so if it can be made fast enough with technobable, it would last long enough for it to reach the enemy.

[beyond hope]

Fine, amercium, neptunium, et al.

Some isotopes of the superheavy ones have a half-life of months, so if it can be made fast enough with technobable, it would last long enough for it to reach the enemy.

Or hold it in a stasis field so it can't decay

[Sea Skimmer]

I'm not using that level of sci tech.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

Osmium along with Iridium is the densest elements known IIRC. Would it be superior to Tungsten for armor penetration?

Well, as far as I know, the military uses osmium in their ballpoint pens. But then again, so does everybody else.

[Sea Skimmer]

Osmium along with Iridium is the densest elements known IIRC. Would it be superior to Tungsten for armor penetration?

Well, as far as I know, the military uses osmium in their ballpoint pens. But then again, so does everybody else.

Ba!

[Admiral Valdemar]

We could always use particle accelerators to produce more of the stuff from other crap, maybe in the future when energy isn't an issue as much.

[Sea Skimmer]

I will take it that no one has any working knowledge of the material here. That said, does anyone know a good source of specific online information for various elements? The PDF beyond hope linked too wont load for me.

[beyond hope]

Not a big loss: I already posted the only information from the PDF that would be useful to you, and included the URL to identify my source for the numbers.

Web Elements will have all the basics on them: the link goes straight to the Osmium entry. Iridium would seem to have similar properties: high hardness (but brittle) and a very high melting point. Forming either apparently will be a bitch... maybe there's an alloy that works better. Both are also more toxic than uranium. Tungsten and Tantalum may be options, in particular tungsten carbide and tantalum carbide graphite composite. [/url]

[Sindai]

Or hold it in a stasis field so it can't decay

If one has the technology to construct a stasis field - a device that would either have to slow time or screw with the various nuclear forces - I doubt one would find kinetic weapons to be of much use on the battlefield in the first place.

[beyond hope]

Or hold it in a stasis field so it can't decay

If one has the technology to construct a stasis field - a device that would either have to slow time or screw with the various nuclear forces - I doubt one would find kinetic weapons to be of much use on the battlefield in the first place.

unless it's some black-box technology that you can build but don't understand.