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 The Old World had no idea about platinum though civilizations
of And discovered and used it from the time immemorial. First platinum
was mined in America where in
XVII century the Spanish conquerors ruled by F. Kortes found the new metal on
the banks of the river Platino-del-Pino in Columbia. The name of this metal comes from
the Spanish word «plata» that means silver.
Some time
back the platinum was recognized as «useless» metal. The conquerors of the
South America brought to Spain
huge amount of platinum that was far cheaper than even silver. Though, the
Spanish jewelers discovered that alloy of the platinum with gold has the
greater specific weight and decided to use it for fake gold coins. On
discovering this, the Government of Spain ordered to eliminate all platinum
reserves and sank it in the sea.
Due to its
high chemical stability, platinum was used to manufacture the chemical ware
like bowls, cups, pincer tips, and nozzles for burners, electrodes for analyses
and equipment for chemical industry. Only in the middle of XVIII century the
platinum was acknowledged as the separate element, yet the platinum was
practiced to manufacture the chemical equipment for the capacity of platinum to
have the high chemical stability and melting. In 1809 the platinum retort was
manufactured of 13 kg
to concentrate sulphur acid. To the half of the XVIII century the manufacturers
learned to melt the platinum in the fame of the detonating gas and in 1862 the
platinum casts were exhibited in London
with the weight of up to 200
kg!
As a
natural element, the platinum is found in the alluvial sands of different
rivers, though we have little facts of platinum used by ancient peoples.
Platinum has
one valuable feature either: it is perfectly soldered into the glass that is
far essential when manufacturing glass ware. Anyone is aware of platinum mirrors
that are manufactured by putting the thinnest layer of the platinum to the
glass surface. Platinum mirrors are durable, they do not get dull, the reflection
is pure, yet, their specific capacity is one-sided transparency. The point of this
phenomenon is that the mirror is not transparent from the light source side and
it reflects all items in front of it, while from the shadow side it is
transparent and the view is as pure as through the clear glass. Thanks to this
capacity, platinum mirrors are widely popular in USA. They were widely used as the
windows for the office first floors, typographies and other offices and housing
to replace curtains and screens.
It is the
favorite metal of jewelers. In jewelry world the platinum is used as the
trimming metal on gold. Today platinum is the acknowledged precious metal widely
used for luxury jewelry and expensive table ware. The jewelers discovered so
soon that the platinum is good to alloy with the gold. This resulted in manufacture
of various fakes when the platinum was added to gold when making jewels. Thus, platinum
is heavier than gold and it was required to fit the solidity of the platinum
bar to that of gold with silver. The low-priced platinum was highly profitable
for the manufacture.
From the
alchemical point of view, the symbol for platinum is the symbols of silver and
gold.
In Russia platinum coins were exported in tons to Europe where its price went higher and higher. Currently platinum is mainly used for technological purposes.
As a metal, platinum is used in
car manufacture industry, electrical engineering and petrochemistry. Platinum is
the construction material for glass-melters to produce optical glass. It is
also used to manufacture precise devices and equipment.
In spite of
the «technical» purpose, platinum is still the magnificent jewelry precious
metal and platinum jewels are still delicate, elegant and fine.
Inessa Hyder
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