Heavy metals is improved with the addition of thorium. Tellurium is added to copper and steel alloys to improve their machinability; and to lead to make it harder and more acid-resistant. The biocidal effects of some heavy metals have been known since antiquity. Platinum, osmium, copper, ruthenium, and other heavy metals, including arsenic, are used in anti-cancer treatments, or have shown potential. Antimony (anti-protozoal), bismuth (anti-ulcer), gold (anti-arthritic), and iron (anti-malarial) are also important in medicine. Copper, zinc, silver, gold, or mercury are used in antiseptic formulations; small amounts of some heavy metals are used to control algal growth in, for example,
Group 7 element high melting and boiling points. Group 7 contains the two naturally occurring transition metals discovered last: technetium and rhenium. Manganese was discovered much earlier owing to its much larger abundance in nature. Rhenium was discovered when Masataka Ogawa found what he thought was element 43 in thorianite, but this was dismissed; recent studies by H. K. Yoshihara suggest that he discovered rhenium instead, a fact not realized at the time. Walter Noddack, Otto Berg, and Ida Tacke were the first to conclusively identify rhenium; it was thought they discovered element 43 as well, but as the experiment could not be