Platinum is a dense, malleable (can be thinned), ductile (can be stretched), shiny gray-white transition metal that is rare enough to be deemed a precious metal.
The melting point of platinum is 3,215 °F (1,768.4 °C) and the boiling point is 6,917 °F (3,825 °C).
Watchmakers such as Vacheron Constantin, Patek Philippe, and Rolex, use platinum for producing limited edition watch series.
Like the other main precious metals gold and silver, platinum is used as currency and investment. The commodity is traded and collected in the form of coins, bars, ingots and jewelry.
Other uses of platinum include in oxygen sensors, spark plugs, turbine engines dentistry equipment and dental crowns, as an anti-tumor agent, to make standard weights and measures, and to make powerful magnets.
Platinum's rarity as a metal means the word is often associated with wealth, value and exclusivity making it a very marketable word widely used by advertisers. "Platinum" awards, credit cards and music album sales are seen as of a higher rank than "gold", "silver" and "bronze" but lower than "diamond". Meteorites and our moon have a higher percentage of platinum than Earth.
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