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- Name : Platinum
- Symbol : Pt
- Atomic # : 78
- Atom weight: 195.08
- Melting P. : 1772
- Boiling P. : 3827
- Oxidation : +2, +4
- Pronounced : Plat-n-em
- From : Spanish platina, "silver"
- Identified : Antonio de Ulloa in 1735
- Appearance : Very heavy, soft, silvery-white metal
- Note : The focal point of an important group of elements known as
- the platinum metals, which includes palladium, iridium,
- osmium, rhodium, platinum, and ruthemnium.
-
- [Properties]
-
- Platinum is described as a silvery-white, dense metal that is quite
- malleable and ductile when pure. Its coefficient of expansion is very close
- to that of glass, so it is often used as electrode material in sealed glass
- electron and X-ray tubes.
- This metal in immune to oxidation in air, thus accounting for the fact
- that it is usually found in nature in its elemental form. Platinum is
- also immure to most acids, including hydrochloric acid. However, it
- dissolves readily in aqua regia, a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids,
- to form chloroplatinic acid.
- Platinum is a Group-VIII transition metal.
-