Magnesium is the lightest of the metals that can be safely handled, being less than two thirds as dense as aluminium. Like the other alkaline earth metals, it is a reactive metal that slowly tarnishes in air. These cylinders have been lacquered to protect their finish and make an ideal companion piece to our incredibly heavy tungsten cylinders.
Pure molybdenum is a heavy, lustrous, silver-grey metal with the fifth highest melting point of all the metals. For this reason molybdenum is traded commercially as a powder and, like many of the transition metals, most is used in alloys and only a small percentage as the pure metal. These pure molybdenum cylinders weigh just over half as much as our matching tungsten cylinders.
Tungsten is amongst the densest of all the elements, exceeded only by rhenium, platinum, iridium, osmium and some of the transuranic elements. This cylinder exceeds an astonishing one kilogram in weight, close to theoretical density. It always surprises those picking one up for the first time and makes an ideal companion piece to our matching magnesium cylinders which, although the same size, weigh only 92 grams.