Platinum (as the {ahem} gold standard, if you will, of high end jewelry) will be the subject of this weeks "Did you know?" post.
Platinum is much rarer than both silver and gold. In fact it’s so rare that all of the platinum ever mined…anywhere, ever…could fit into your living room. Nearly 14 times more gold than platinum is mined per year — about 1,800 tons (1,633 metric tons) of gold compared to 130 tons (118 metric tons) of platinum.
Platinum, though admittedly expensive, is always the recommended metal for high end jewelry. It’s enduring. Platinum is so durable that your great-grandchildren and beyond will still be wearing your platinum jewelry. It’s very soft and malleable. So while it sounds counter-intuitive, what that actually means is that when a piece of jewelry is scratched and scraped in some way, the metal would be shoved aside…but not lost. You can buff and polish it back into its original shape and finish over and over again, without ever losing any of the metal. Platinum’s purity makes it hypoallergenic. It is also a naturally white metal, so it won’t need to be re-plated like white gold.
Used by the pre-Columbian Indians of South America, platinum wasn't noticed by western scientists until 1735. The majority (about 80 percent) of platinum is mined in South Africa. Approximately 10 percent is mined in Russia, and the rest is found in North and South America. Platinum can occur free in nature and is sometimes found in deposits of gold-bearing sands, primarily those found in the Ural Mountains, Columbia and the western United States. Platinum is also always present in meteorites in very small amounts.
French King Louis XVI began using platinum to make exquisite decorative objects, such as cutlery, watch chains, coat buttons, and a sugar bowl. The King was so enamored with the results that he declared platinum to be “the only metal fit for a king”.
When the metric system was devised in France in the 1790s, platinum was the metal chosen to make the kilogram weight. Because it would not corrode over time, it was the perfect choice for making a measure which would never change and would keep a consistent standard.
In the early 1800s, friends and colleagues William Hyde Wollaston and Smithson Tennant, both British chemists, produced and sold purified platinum that they isolated using a technique developed by Wollaston, according to van der Krogt. This technique involves dissolving platinum ore in a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids (known as aqua regia). After the platinum was separated from the rest of the solution, palladium, rhodium, osmium, iridium, and later ruthenium were all discovered in the waste.
Beyond jewelry platinum is an incredibly useful metal. It’s one of the densest elements. It’s corrosion resistant, non-reactive, and resistant to tarnishing. Platinum is also malleable, ductile, and incredibly difficult to melt. For all of these reasons you can find platinum (in some fashion or another) used in, cancer therapy drugs, magnets, watches, fertilizers, pace-makers, tools, and dental crowns. But nearly half of the platinum that is mined is used for automobiles in catalytic converters, the part of the automobile that reduces toxic gases into less-toxic emissions. Platinum and other platinum metals can withstand the high temperatures required for the oxidation reactions that reduce the emissions.
Platinum is much rarer than both silver and gold. In fact it’s so rare that all of the platinum ever mined…anywhere, ever…could fit into your living room. Nearly 14 times more gold than platinum is mined per year — about 1,800 tons (1,633 metric tons) of gold compared to 130 tons (118 metric tons) of platinum.
Platinum, though admittedly expensive, is always the recommended metal for high end jewelry. It’s enduring. Platinum is so durable that your great-grandchildren and beyond will still be wearing your platinum jewelry. It’s very soft and malleable. So while it sounds counter-intuitive, what that actually means is that when a piece of jewelry is scratched and scraped in some way, the metal would be shoved aside…but not lost. You can buff and polish it back into its original shape and finish over and over again, without ever losing any of the metal. Platinum’s purity makes it hypoallergenic. It is also a naturally white metal, so it won’t need to be re-plated like white gold.
Used by the pre-Columbian Indians of South America, platinum wasn't noticed by western scientists until 1735. The majority (about 80 percent) of platinum is mined in South Africa. Approximately 10 percent is mined in Russia, and the rest is found in North and South America. Platinum can occur free in nature and is sometimes found in deposits of gold-bearing sands, primarily those found in the Ural Mountains, Columbia and the western United States. Platinum is also always present in meteorites in very small amounts.
French King Louis XVI began using platinum to make exquisite decorative objects, such as cutlery, watch chains, coat buttons, and a sugar bowl. The King was so enamored with the results that he declared platinum to be “the only metal fit for a king”.
When the metric system was devised in France in the 1790s, platinum was the metal chosen to make the kilogram weight. Because it would not corrode over time, it was the perfect choice for making a measure which would never change and would keep a consistent standard.
In the early 1800s, friends and colleagues William Hyde Wollaston and Smithson Tennant, both British chemists, produced and sold purified platinum that they isolated using a technique developed by Wollaston, according to van der Krogt. This technique involves dissolving platinum ore in a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids (known as aqua regia). After the platinum was separated from the rest of the solution, palladium, rhodium, osmium, iridium, and later ruthenium were all discovered in the waste.
Beyond jewelry platinum is an incredibly useful metal. It’s one of the densest elements. It’s corrosion resistant, non-reactive, and resistant to tarnishing. Platinum is also malleable, ductile, and incredibly difficult to melt. For all of these reasons you can find platinum (in some fashion or another) used in, cancer therapy drugs, magnets, watches, fertilizers, pace-makers, tools, and dental crowns. But nearly half of the platinum that is mined is used for automobiles in catalytic converters, the part of the automobile that reduces toxic gases into less-toxic emissions. Platinum and other platinum metals can withstand the high temperatures required for the oxidation reactions that reduce the emissions.