'Daniel+Tan'+Platinum+-+Catalytic+Converter+for+Cars

= 'It is estimated that one-fifth of everything we use either contains platinum or requires platinum in its manufacture.' = =**__Platinum__**= Atomic symbol: Pt Atomic number: 78 Atomic weight: 195.09 Melting point: 1768.4 C Boiling point: 3825 C Electronic configuration: 2.8.18.32.17.1

Appearance: silvery-white metal. It is supposed to have a 'beautiful lustrous sheen', which means that it is shiny (-_-ll)

Platinum is derived from the Spanish term //platina del Pinto//, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pi nto River." In the 16th century, Spanish people panning for gold in New Granada found platinum a nuisance as it was sometimes mixed with the gold nuggets and hard to separate. The metal was used by pre-Columbian Indians to produce artifacts of a white gold-platinum alloy (must have been expensive). Sir Charles Wood, a British chemist, is credited with the discovery of platinum in Jamaica in 1741. Platinum is sent to Europe and is wrongly believed to be able to be used in alchemy to change lead into gold. Of course, this just drove the price of platinum up. In 1751, a Swedish researcher, Sheffer, recognised platinum as an element and the melting point of platinum was discovered in 1782. In the 19th century, significant developments were made, with Wollaston and Tennant developing the method of refining platinum in 1802 and discovered the other elements of the platinum metals group (PGM, refer to below). Grove studied the catalytic properties of platinum and devised the first fuel cell (see uses of platinum) using platinum electrodes in 1842. After that platinum took off as a brilliant metal to use.
 * __A brief history of platinum__**

Platinum is part of the noble metal group as it is generally unreactive and does not corrode or oxidise, even at high temperatures. Noble metals should not be confused with precious metals. Precious metals just have high economical value, like gold and silver and are rare naturally-occuring elements. Platinum is also part of the platinum group (duh). If you look at the Periodic Table, the platinum group consist of Ruthenium, Rhodium, Palladium, Osmium, Iridium and Platinum. It is a six metal group and these metals tend to have the same chemical and physical properties and can be found together in mineral deposits. They are all rare elements, have high melting points, highly resistant to tarnish which make them so attractive as jewelery, which is mentioned more about below, and are very dense.
 * __Groups it belong to:__**

__**Isotopes**__ Platinum has 6 naturally occurring isotopes: 190 Pt, 192 Pt, 194 Pt, 195 Pt, 196 Pt, and 198 Pt. 190 Pt is radioactive and the most abundant is 195 Pt. You can read more at [|wikipedia] It is hard to track the number of isotopes it has because many are made in the laboratory. There is a list [|here]

I have no idea what the websites are talking about when they talk about the compounds that platinum forms but there is a good list [|here] and [|here] I also don't really know what the compounds are for.

__**Uses of platinum:**__
__Catalytic Converters__ The world would be a very poisonous place if it wouldn't for platinum in the catalytic converters in our cars. These catalytic converters in our cars convert the poisonous carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitric oxide into the less harmful water and carbon dioxide, which also harms the environment a bit, but not as badly. As a result of governments and environmentalists being more concerned for the environment, demand for platinum had risen, which pushes the price up. Another uses for platinum in catalytic converters is in fuel cells, which is environmentally very friendly :) Fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into energy, with water as their only by-product. I have no idea how platinum does it but if you can watch the video (first link) and understand, then good :) __Medical Purposes__ Platinum is also used in medicine as it does not react with the tissues and fluids in our body and allergic reactions are rare. As it is a good electrical conductor, it can be used as neuro-implants for those with poor muscle control, oral implants to help people hear and retro-implants to help people see and as pacemakers, which are used to treat heart disorders by conducting pulses of electricity to stablise the heartbeat. Platinum has also been used in drugs to help combat cancer, although there are significant side effects, like nausea. Platinum-based cancer drugs, like Cisplatin and Carboplatin, destroy the tumor cells by binding to its DNA strands, interfering with DNA replication. This activates the cell’s DNA repair mechanisms, but if the damage is too extensive to be repaired, the cell undergoes programmed suicide. However tumor cells have been developing resistance to this by 'ramping up their DNA repair pathways, allowing them to evade cell death'. [|For more information] Also there is a field of medicine, homeopathy, which uses platinum to treat various medical complaints, especially for women. I won't elaborate on what these complaints are because it's not very important but you can read them for yourself if you want. [|Click here if you want to read...] __Jewelery__ As platinum is resistant to tarnish, rare and malleable, jewelers are valuing them higher than gold. It can also bring out the brilliance of diamonds better as lower grade diamonds have a yellowish tinge, which makes it obvious that it is of lower grade. When gold, which is of a yellow colour, is used with diamonds rings, it might be mistaken as to be of a low grade diamond. However platinum doesn't have this problem and is also very shiny :) Platinum is now a top choice for banks promoting credit cards and also for awards, etc. __Hard Disks__ This is not a direct contribution of platinum but it is quite an important use. When you add platinum to cobalt, you enhance its magnetic properties and can store more information. With computers starting to store more and more information, the percentage of platinum in the hard disks has risen to 35% from less than 10% in 2007. Also, the platinum and cobalt alloy is also used to make strong magnets. __In Glass__ It has a coefficient of expansion of almost equal to that of soda-lime-silica glass, and is therefore used to make sealed electrodes in glass bulbs

If you scratch platinum, none of the material is lost, unlike gold. Just take it to a jeweler for a quick polish and ta-da! as good as new :) It is super heavy, nearly twice as heavy as gold It is uber rare, 0.005 mg/kg in the Earth's crust, that is 0.005 mg per 1kg of soil. Don't get too happy because you can only mine at the Earth's crust, which isn't a lot. If all the world's reserves were transferred into a Olympic-sized swimming pool, it would only touch your ankles. Not much huh? Meteorites are rich in platinum, as well as other metals.  The standardized weight of kilogram is made of platinum, kept in the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Paris, as it is so durable
 * __Fun facts __**

Bibliography: Platinum and related information [] [] [] [] [] [] (Has basic information on other elements as well)

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