How To: Dissolve ruthenium metal with household bleach

You've manage to get your hands on some ruthenium, and now you want to destroy the hard silvery-white metal of the transition series. Well, you're going to try all kinds of ways to dissolve this odd metal, but the only successful way to dissolve ruthenium is with a common household cleaner… bleach.

Dr. Lithium of Nurd Rage shows you how he dissolved ruthenium metal with household bleach.

He shows the element ruthenium and the interesting property that it is immune to hydrochloric acid and nitric acid. Even when combined to make the gold-dissolving acid "Aqua Regia" the element ruthenium is completely immune to it. So how do you dissolve ruthenium? Interestingly, ruthenium can be dissolved in a very simple household chemical: bleach!

This gives a glimpse into complex "rock paper scissors" game of chemistry. A substance like gold might be immune to bleach, but vulnerable to acid. While another metal, might have the opposite reactivity, being completely immune to acid, but vulnerable to bleach.

Brought to you by one of WonderHowTo's favorite scientists, NurdRage.