Molybdenum

Molybdenum is a metal quite similar to lead in physical properties, it is heavy, and has a greasy feel to it's surface. It has the 6th highest melting point of any element at about 4,800 degrees F. It's name comes from ancient greek for Lead, because it's ores (naturally found compounds) where confused with lead ores when first discovered.

Molybdenum's atomic number is 42, and atomic weight is 95.94 consisting of a mix of Isotopes from Molybdenum-94 to Molybdenum-97 (The number at the end is the "Isotopic number", and means the atomic weight of that specific Isotope, Molybdenum-94, having 42 protons, would have 52 neutrons, for a total of 94) It's electron layers go 2, 8, 18, 13, 1.

Molybdenum is almost never (or extremely rarely) found as a native metal, meaning it is always in a compound in nature, not pure form. It has a wide range of uses, most being either heat resistance or alloying for strength, Molybdenum can be alloyed with steel to make armor grade steel for military vehicles, and is also used as support wires for some incandescent light bulbs for it's high heat resistance, and this is one of the easiest ways to get a small sample(see images below).

This is a burnt-out incandescent lamp. The two thickest wires are a copper alloy, but the thin wire on the right side is Molybdenum. The spiral-shaped pieces are fragments of the burnt-out filament, which are Tungsten. Before you break the bulb, let me say that some larger bulbs have no support wires, meaning no Molybdenum. Look in and see if it has supports like I described. I've seen some light bulbs with 4 or 5 support wires, but also lots with none at all.

Broken bulb. You can see the wire structure more clearly here, the thinner, taller wire with a loop at the end is the Molybdenum. Please be careful breaking glass! The safest method I've found is to put the bulb in a zip-lock plastic bag, then drop 2-3 feet onto concrete or stone(Not wood floor! It might scratch it). If it doesn't break, drop it slightly higher until it does. Make sure you clean up any glass fragments! It is a nightmare to get them out of your toes.

This is all the molybdenum I could get out of it, and since the bulb was burnt out, the Molybdenum was brittle and cracked. Not much of a sample, but enough to say you have some!

These small spirally pieces are fragments of the filament, and are Tungsten, not Molybdenum. You might want to save these too as Tungsten is an element, but you can get much nicer pieces from un-used lightbulbs.

This concludes my post on Molybdenum, thanks for reading!

~Ben