What it would cost for 1 gram of every non radio-active metal?

I found this online: Cut and paste from www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question143123.html
$16,000,380,209,200.2842

So here is a more detailed version. There are a lot of more practical considerations to consider, like

a) Preparation and transportation costs for the more dangerous ones.
b) You can’t necessarily get everything this cheap due to many of the metals being at bulk rates. I know from looking on ebay that you’d have to spend a lot more than the listed price for a sample of pure tungsten, for example. When a price vs a bulk price was given, I used the non-bulk price.
c) You need special clearances for things like plutonium.
d) A few micrograms of polonium are incredibly deadly, a whole 1 g would be insane, so the price shouldn’t be a surprise.
e) Some of them, while purchasable at small amounts, do not necessarily have as much as 1 g available. For example, a grand total of 0.66 g of berkelium was made over the course of 16 years (1966 – 1983). Requesting a full gram of it might cause other unique issues.
f) Some elements essentially cost nothing, depending in part on how pure you want them to be.
g) Different websites are giving very different prices for things like the lanthanides. I picked what seem to be the most up-to-date prices.

Of those elements that CAN be purchased in some way or another, the prices per gram are:

99 & above: unobtainable

98 – Californium – $60 million (cheapest isotope)
http://www.osti.gov/scitech/servlets/purl/15053
http://www.speclab.com/elements/californium.htm

97 – Berkelium – $160 million
http://www.3rd1000.com/elements/Berkelium.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkelium#Synthesis_and_extraction

96 – Curium – $160 million (cheapest isotope)
http://www.speclab.com/elements/curium.htm

95 – Americium – $1500 (most commonly cited cost)
http://www.speclab.com/elements/americium.htm

94 – Plutonium – $4000
http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2008/AndrewMorel.shtml

93 – Neptunium – $660
http://www.chemistry.pomona.edu/chemistry/periodic_table/Elements/Neptunium/the%20facts.htm

92 – Uranium – $0.07
For this one, it seems that U3O8 is what’s available. Considering that it’s $25.75/lb and 85% U, I did conversions to get to that.
http://www.uranium.info/

91 – Protactinium – $280
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/protactinium.html

90 – Thorium – $5.29
https://www.hobart.k12.in.us/ksms/PeriodicTable/thorium.htm

89 – Actinium (not available)
Some sites are saying $100 per gram but they look suspect, most say not available.

88 – Radium – $100,000
https://www.hobart.k12.in.us/ksms/PeriodicTable/radium.htm

87 – Francium – (essentially nonexistent)

86 – Radon – $102,000
There are extremely conflicting results on the cost of radon and it’s not clear what units most of them are supposed to represent. So for this, I assume you take radium-223 and let it decay to radon-219 (half-life is 11.43 days), adjusting the price of radium accordingly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium

85 – Astatine – (essentially nonexistent)

84 – Polonium – $16,000,000,000,000
http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele084.html
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/polonium-is-costly-undetectable-trillion-times-more-toxic-than-cyanide/article18179025/
Converted cost from microcuries to grams according to these two. Polonium is incredibly deadly in extremely small quantities.

83 – Bismuth – $0.11
https://www.hobart.k12.in.us/ksms/PeriodicTable/bismuth.htm

82 – Lead – $ 0.002
http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/

81 – Thallium – $5.17
http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/thallium/thallmcs07.pdf

80 – Mercury – $0.017
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/mercury.html

79 – Gold – $43
https://www.google.com/search?q=price+of+gold
The price of gold changes constantly (most prices do but few are as available as gold is), so I rounded to the nearest dollar.

78 – Platinum – $34
https://www.google.com/search?q=price+of+platinum
As with gold.

77 – Iridium – $19
https://taxfreegold.co.uk/iridiumpricesusdollars.html
As with gold.

76 – Osmium – $13
https://taxfreegold.co.uk/osmiumpricesusdollars.html
As with gold.

75 – Rhenium – $2.30
https://taxfreegold.co.uk/rheniumpricesusdollars.html
As with gold

74 – Tungsten – $0.044
http://www.playfairmining.com/s/NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=515163

73 – Tantalum – $0.133
http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/tantalite-ore/6-month/
Available as “tantalite ore”, without a specific composition, so this price is not exact – probably off by a few cents.

72 – Hafnium – $1
http://www.kitco.com/ind/Albrecht/2015-03-11-Weak-Zirconium-Demand-Depleting-Hafnium-Stock-Piles.html

71 – Lutetium – $85
http://www.pcreml.com/rare-earth-pricing

70 – Ytterbium – $0.532
http://www.pcreml.com/rare-earth-pricing

69 – Thulium – $2.65
http://www.pcreml.com/rare-earth-pricing

68 – Erbium – $0.416
http://www.pcreml.com/rare-earth-pricing

67 – Holmium – $1.50
http://www.pcreml.com/rare-earth-pricing

66 – Dysprosium – $21.70
http://www.pcreml.com/rare-earth-pricing

65 – Terbium – $36.50
http://www.pcreml.com/rare-earth-pricing

64 – Gadolinium – $0.045
http://www.pcreml.com/rare-earth-pricing

63 – Europium – $43.50
http://www.pcreml.com/rare-earth-pricing

62 – Samarium – $0.041
http://www.pcreml.com/rare-earth-pricing

61 – Promethium – not available
http://www.pcreml.com/rare-earth-pricing

60 – Neodymium – $1.30
http://www.pcreml.com/rare-earth-pricing

Response last updated by CmdrK on Jun 29 2018.
Sep 05 16, 11:54 AM
nautilator
Moderator
7 year member
459 replies

Answer has 4 votes.
Vote for this answer
(it wouldn’t let me add everything to one post)

59 – Praseodymum – $0.187
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a527258.pdf

58 – Cerium – $0.038
http://www.pcreml.com/rare-earth-pricing

57 – Lanthanum – $0.063
http://www.pcreml.com/rare-earth-pricing

56 – Barium – $0.056
https://www.hobart.k12.in.us/ksms/PeriodicTable/barium.htm

55 – Caesium – $4.50 (average)
http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/cesium/200397.pdf

54 – Xenon – $1.20
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/xenon.html

53 – Iodine – $0.083
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/iodine.html

52 – Tellurium – $0.24
http://physicalsciencetellurium.weebly.com/facts.html

51 – Antimony – $0.045
https://www.hobart.k12.in.us/ksms/PeriodicTable/antimony.htm

50 – Tin – $0.019
http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/

49 – Indium – $2.50 (average)
http://www.chemistry.pomona.edu/Chemistry/periodic_table/Elements/Indium/indium.htm

48 – Cadmium – $0.06
https://www.hobart.k12.in.us/ksms/PeriodicTable/cadmium.htm

47 – Silver – $0.63
https://taxfreegold.co.uk/silverpricesusdollars.html
As with gold.

46 – Palladium – $22
https://taxfreegold.co.uk/palladiumpricesusdollars.html
As with gold.

45 – Rhodium – $22
https://taxfreegold.co.uk/rhodiumpricesusdollars.html
As with gold.

44 – Ruthenium – $1.50
https://taxfreegold.co.uk/rutheniumpricesusdollars.html
As with gold.

43 – Technetium – $60
https://www.hobart.k12.in.us/ksms/PeriodicTable/technetium.htm
http://www.chlive.org/dnemerofsky/elements/Tc/Tc.htm

42 – Molybdenum – $0.044
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/molybdenum.html

41 – Niobium – $0.18
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/niobium.html

40 – Zirconium – $1.50
http://www.chemistry.pomona.edu/chemistry/periodic_table/elements/zirconium/zirconium.htm

39 – Yttrium – $2.65
http://www.chemistry.pomona.edu/chemistry/periodic_table/elements/yttrium/yttrium.htm

38 – Strontium – $1
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/strontium.html

37 – Rubidium – $25
https://www.hobart.k12.in.us/ksms/PeriodicTable/rubidium.htm

36 – Krypton – $0.33
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/krypton.html

35 – Bromine – $0.05
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/bromine.html

34 – Selenium – $0.66
http://www.radiochemistry.org/periodictable/elements/34.html

33 – Arsenic – $3.20
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/arsenic.html

32 – Germanium – $3
http://www.radiochemistry.org/periodictable/elements/32.html

31 – Gallium – $2.20
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/gallium.html

30 – Zinc – $0.002
http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/

29 – Copper – $0.0032
http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/
While copper costs $2.10 per pound at the moment, a pre-1982 American cent is readily available and contains 3.1 g of it. This cuts a whole $0.002 off the total cost.

28 – Nickel – $0.0085
http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/
Like copper, but older Canadian nickels have more than their value in nickel. Otherwise it’s about $4.50 per pound ot $0.01 per gram.

27 – Cobalt – $0.025
http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/

26 – Iron – $0.047 (for pure iron, steel is much less)
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/iron.html

25 – Manganese – $0.002
http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/

24 – Chromium – $0.32
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/chromium.html

23 – Vanadium – $0.045
http://www.radiochemistry.org/periodictable/elements/23.html
I used the 95% pure value, because I thought that’s good enough. The 99.9% is quite a bit more.

22 – Titanium – $6.60
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/titanium.html

21 – Scandium – $270
http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele021.html

20 – Calcium – $0.20
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/calcium.html

19 – Potassium – $1
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/potassium.html

18 – Argon – $0.005
https://www.hobart.k12.in.us/ksms/PeriodicTable/argon.htm

17 – Chlorine – $0.0015
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/chlorine.html

16 – Sulfur – $0.50
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/sulfur.html

15 – Phosphorus – $0.30
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/phosphorus.html

14 – Silicon – $0.50
http://www.radiochemistry.org/periodictable/elements/14.html

13 – Aluminum – $0.002
http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/

12 – Magnesium – $0.002
http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/

11 – Sodium – $0.25
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/sodium.html
(for pure sodium, otherwise you could just get it from salt)

10 – Neon – $0.33
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/neon.html

9 – Fluorine – $1.90
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/fluorine.html
Keep in mind that pure fluorine is extremely dangerous and needs to be stored in heavy wax to keep from reacting.

8 – Oxygen – $0.003
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/oxygen.html
This assumes you don’t feel like hydrolyzing it from water. Either way, it’s nearly nothing.

7 – Nitrogen – $0.004
https://www.hobart.k12.in.us/ksms/PeriodicTable/nitrogen.htm
Much like oxygen. Since air is 78% nitrogen you could always claim you have it, but you can get pure, liquid nitrogen if you wanted.

6 – Carbon – $0.024
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/carbon.html
This seems to be if you go out of your way to get some. You could easily get carbon from graphite/pencils, for example. Or you could get the diamond allotrope, which will cost quite a bit more.

5 – Boron – $5
http://www.rareearth.org/boron_properties.htm
Note: results are fairly conflicting for boron.

4 – Beryllium – $0.51
http://moneyweek.com/money-morning-metals-beryllium-11607/

3 – Lithium – $0.27
http://www.chemicool.com/elements/lithium.html

2 – Helium – $0.175
https://www.hobart.k12.in.us/ksms/PeriodicTable/helium.htm
$.0375 per 1 ft^{3 * 0.0283 m}3/ft^{3 * 0.164 kg/m}3 * 1000 g/1 kg

1 – Hydrogen – $1
https://www.hobart.k12.in.us/ksms/PeriodicTable/hydrogen.htm
As with oxygen, you could just hydrolyze water for hydrogen.

If you add up all the relatively cheap ones (less than $1000 each), you get $1700.2842

Add in americium and plutonium, $7200.2842

Add in radon and radium, $209,200.2842

Add in californium, berkelium, and curium, $380,209,200.2842

Add in polonium, $16,000,380,209,200.2842

Yeah, that went up pretty fast.

Saved me the trouble of looking up each one at a time on Wikipedia. Cut and pasted from nautilator from http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question143123.html

That is an interesting question and answer! Thanks! I had no idea!

I’m fairly certain that this will put you on some intelligence agencies’ lists…

Interesting indeed though…