Rhenium is a chemical element with symbol Re and atomic number 75. It is a silvery-white, heavy, third-row transition metal in group 7 of the periodic table. With an estimated average concentration of 1 part per billion (ppb), rhenium is one of the rarest elements in the Earth's crust.
Three reasons Rhenium stands out
1
Used in jet engines due to its ability to withstand heat.
2
It has the highest boiling point of any element, at approximately 5,596 °C.
3
It was the last stable non-radioactive element to be discovered, only identified in 1925.
A scarce ingredient in jet-engine heat
Rhenium is among the rarest elements in Earth’s crust. Added to nickel superalloys, it helps turbine blades resist creep inside the hottest parts of jet engines. Rhenium catalysts also reform petroleum molecules, while its extreme melting and boiling points reflect unusually strong metallic bonding.
Recognizing Rhenium in Elementle
If Rhenium is the mystery element, guesses below atomic number 75 point up and guesses above it point down. Its symbol is Re: a green letter matches the same position in that symbol, while a yellow letter belongs in another position.
The family clue turns green for transition metal guesses. Compare Tungsten (W), number 74 and Osmium (Os), number 76: they share the family clue, but their atomic numbers and symbols help you tell them apart.
Values are reference data, not a specification for every temperature, pressure, or allotrope. Unknown properties are left unavailable. Superheavy-element predictions remain uncertain.
The introduction and original editorial story are adapted from Wikipedia contributors via Periodic-Table-JSON. Element descriptions and their adaptations are available under CC BY-SA 3.0. Numerical attributes use the PubChem periodic-table dataset, retrieved September 22, 2026.