From rhino horn to californium here are the top 15 most expensive materials in the world you’d be lucky to get a look at these gems.
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8.Painite – $8,500
Thought the name sounds like an incredibly lame wrestle, Painite is an incredibly rare borate Mineral found exclusively in Myanmar. As of 2005 fewer than 25 painite crystal were known to exist, making it one of the rarest mineral in the world. The brownish/red crystals, which contains vanadium and chromium can be found distributed between the British Museum of Natural History, the Gemological Institute of America and the GRS Gemresearch Lab, with a very small portion being owned in private hands.
7. Red Beryl $9,000 per gram
A very rare, beautiful gemstone the only suitable stones found for cutting were in one, single location – the Wah Wah Mountains of Beaver County, Utah. The mineral requires a unique geochemical environment to develop which is why it’s such a precious gem. Sometimes known as a red emerald as they both belong to the beryl family, although, legally emeralds have to be green.
6. Taaffeite Stone – $20,000 gram
Less than 10 of these incredibly scarce, recently identified gems have been found to exist, named after its discoverer Richard Taaffe. It’s the first ever material to contain both magnesium and beryllium and was the first gemstone to have been identified from a cut and polished gem found in a jewellers shop in Dublin, Ireland.
5.Tritium – $30,000
Tritium is the radioactive form of hydrogen which forms when nitrogen atoms are bombarded with cosmic rays in the upper atmosphere. Sounds very sci-fi. Naturally occurring Tritium is incredibly rare but can be produced artificially and its radioactive decay, which causes phosphors to glow, is highly useful as self-powered lighting, called betalights. It’s also used to enhance the efficiency of fission bombs and nuclear fusion.
4.Diamonds – $50,000
Still the most expensive and sought-after gemstone, diamonds are a carbon with the highest hardness and thermal conductivity. Carbon dating has revealed that diamonds as old as 3.3 billion years old. As well as being a popular jewellry diamonds do have practical applications, as cutting and polishing instruments. Contrary to popular belief diamonds are far from a scarce commodity. In fact there was such an oversaturation of diamonds that The De Beers company created the current demand for diamonds by marketing them as rare gems and publicising the “a diamond is forever” marketing campaign in order to sentimentalise the product so that buyers wouldn’t resell them. In 1999, De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer confessed, “Diamonds are intrinsically worthless, except for the deep psychological need they fill.”
3.Californium – $27 million per gram
Named after the university where it was first produced, the University of California Radioation Laboratory, Californium is a man-made radioactive element, created in a partical accelorator. One microgram of Californium is capable of releasing 170 million neutron particles every minute. Its uses include assisting nuclear fusion start-up and has neutrons of Californium have been used to treat cervical and brain cancer when radiation therapy isn’t working. I’d hate to see that medical bill.
2.Buckminsterfullerene – $150 million per gram
Best. Name. Ever. Also called a Bucky Ball, it is the most naturally occurring fullerene and can be found in small quantities in soot and it’s also been detected in its gaseous form in deep space. The soccer-ball shaped molecule had been theorised since the 60s but was first synthesised by a team at Rice University in 1985, willing them the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Their discovery has limited practical applications, as yet, but has lead to a whole new field of scientific inquiry.
1. Antimatter – $62.5 trillion per gram (estimated by NASA)
Antimatter is composed of antiparticles, which bears the same mass as matter but opposite charges. When matter and antimatter collide it results in the annihilation of both, which, scientifically should mean that the observable universe should be 50% matter and 50% antimatter. The fact that it is nearly entirely matter is one of the great unsolved mysteries of physics. This annihilation produces energy, energy that we could one day harness and take us to the stars.
