From Arsenic to Zirconium

PLATINUM, Pt

UNRIPE GOLD

’Twas once dismissed as unripe gold, too hard to melt or cast,

Yet now—though dear and oh so rare—its range of use is vast!

Set kilo’s mass, glams up with gems,

Excels in cells with PEMs,

Refines our fuels, converts our fumes; cisplatin’s unsurpassed.

’Twas once dismissed as unripe gold, too hard to melt or cast,

GROUP 10 TRANSITION METAL

Apart from one 7th-century BCE Egyptian artifact, no evidence exists of platinum’s use in ancient times. This non-tarnishing, silvery-white, lustrous metal only entered the European consciousness during Spain’s 16th-century conquest of South America. It had been known there and worked ...