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No. 519: Periodic Table: 45 Rhodium

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Periodic Table: 45 Rhodium

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Permanent URL: https://mezzacotta.net/dinosaur/?comic=519

Strip by: David Morgan-Mar

T-Rex: T-Rex presents The Periodic Table:
T-Rex: 45 RHODIUM
T-Rex: A rare silvery metal, worth more than platinum - making it the most valuable precious metal[1]. Over 80% of global rhodium production is used in car engines to reduce pollution.
Utahraptor: And it rhymes with sodium!
T-Rex: Yes!
Utahraptor: I wonder what would happen if you sprinkled rhodium chloride on your food.
T-Rex: You'd emit less noxious gas?
T-Rex: Oh, and probably die.

The author writes:

[1] That's using Wikipedia's definition of "precious metal" as one with high economic value. The list is: gold, silver, platinum, ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, and iridium. There are other more expensive metals, such as plutonium, which costs roughly a hundred times as much as any of those, but not used as valuable metals for economic purposes. (You can't go into a bullion dealer and buy a chunk of plutonium.)