A hard, brittle, blue-gray metallic chemical element with the symbol Os and atomic number 76, notable for being the densest naturally occurring element.
Named from Greek 'osme' meaning 'smell' or 'odor' because of the strong, unpleasant smell of osmium tetroxide. English chemist Smithson Tennant discovered and named the element in 1803 while investigating platinum ores. The Greek root reflects the distinctive pungent odor that characterizes this element's compounds.
Osmium is literally the densest element on Earth - a baseball made of osmium would weigh about 25 pounds! Its name comes from its terrible smell, which early chemists described as a mixture of chlorine and garlic that could be detected even in tiny amounts.
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