Platinum was first used by people in South America, who produced artefacts of a white gold-platinum alloy. The first written document that speaks of platinum was written by Julius C Scaliger in 1557.
But he was proved wrong by Francois Chabaneaus, a French chemist, in 1783. Chabaneaus discovered and patented a method of producing workable platinum, though the quality of the metal was still very inconsistent.
Later, in the early 19th century, an English chemist named William H Wollaston developed a commercial process for producing pure platinum. The element gets its name from the Spanish word platina, which means ‘little silver’.
Platinum is highly valued and desired. It has a wide range of uses, which includes making jewellery, catalytic converters, electrical contacts, pacemakers, medication, and magnets. It is a rare metal and makes up only about 5 parts per billion by weight of the Earth’s crust. This scarcity makes it very costly.
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