Wed 25 Feb 2009
Frozen Asset?
Posted by anaglyph under Hmmm..., Science, Words
[10] Comments
The item above is currently up on eBay for $500. Get in quick!
From the Wikipedia entry on Iridium:
Iridium is one of the rarest elements in the Earth’s crust, with annual production and consumption of only three tonnes. However, it does find a number of specialized industrial and scientific applications.* Iridium is employed when high corrosion resistance and high temperatures are needed, as in spark plugs, crucibles for recrystallization of semiconductors at high temperatures, electrodes for the production of chlorine in the chloralkali process, and radioisotope thermoelectric generators used in unmanned spacecraft. Iridium compounds also find applications as catalysts for the production of acetic acid.
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Annual production of iridium circa 2000 was around 3 tonnes or about 100,000 troy ounces (ozt). The price of iridium as of 2007 was $440 USD/ozt.
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*Note that these applications do not include ‘… the cosmetic decoration of domestic appliances’
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I already got me a nice fridge
That may be Malach, but as usual you completely missed the point. Can I ask you – can you actually read?
So… are you suggesting we buy it now, at this stunningly reasonable price, then hack it to bits, to sell the valuable Iridium??
Meggie, if I thought for an attosecond that there was any significant quantity of iridium in this fridge, I wouldn’t be telling you guys about the eBay listing…
I (and I feel fairly certain nursemyra) like the sound of the ‘Bottom mount freezer’. I leave it to your fertile imaginations…
As for the Iridium finish, I hope it lasts longer than their satellites.
The King
Perhaps iridium isjust a new trendy word for “silver” or “metalic” like they use food to name colors like “watermellon” or “cranberry.”
It does say Iridium finish” which indicates a color, so much as actual materials. Gotta watch those tricky key words in advertising.
Someone will buy it, and someone will hack it apart thinking they got a gold mine there. Unfortunately we will not see the follow up story on that one.
King Willy: On my research into eBay fridge selling, I discovered several F&P fridges that touted ‘bottom freezers’. Indeed, the one I’m selling is now advertised that way – it’s obviously something people are seeking.
As for the Iridium satellite network, well, despite popular misconception, it still functions quite successfully. Like most things that get launched overhyped, it failed to be The Next Big Thing, but still does pretty much what it was intended to do.
MI: Yes, I know that’s what they mean. I was just pointing out the silliness of making a feature of something of which very few people have any experience. I doubt that many people reading the eBay listing know what iridium is, let alone its colour.
When can I get a Cowlexâ„¢ made of iridium?
You can’t. Well, that should read ‘you can’t’. You couldn’t be trusted with one.
It’s not for me, it’s for my Mongolian friend.