Category: Transition metal
Atomic Number: 78
Period: 6 | Group: 10
Block: d-block
The catalyst metal: platinum makes reactions happen that would otherwise need impossible conditions.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Phase at STP | Solid |
| Density | N/A |
| Melting Point | 2041.40 K (1768.25 °C) |
| Boiling Point | 4098.00 K (3824.85 °C) |
| Heat Capacity | N/A |
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Atomic Mass | 195.0840 u |
| Electronegativity (Pauling) | N/A |
| Oxidation States | -3, -2, -1, 0, +1, +2, +3, +4, +5, +6 |
| Electron Configuration |
| Discovered By | Unknown |
|---|---|
| Discovery Year | 1735 |
| Named After | Spanish platina, "little silver" |
Pre-Columbian platinum
Metalworkers of the La Tolita culture, on the Pacific coast of present-day Ecuador and Colombia, made small objects from platinum and gold alloys centuries before Europeans knew of the metal.
Platina (1735 to 1748)
The Spanish naval officer and scientist Antonio de Ulloa encountered the metal in 1735 in the gold-mining region of New Granada (present-day Colombia), during a French and Spanish scientific expedition, and described it in 1748. The Spanish called it platina, "little silver", and miners discarded it as a nuisance in gold ore.
Recognized as an element
Samples reached England through Charles Wood, and William Brownrigg described them to the Royal Society in 1750. Over the following decades chemists in Sweden, France and England established that platinum was a new metal. Around 1800 William Hyde Wollaston developed a way to make platinum malleable, and in the process he found palladium and rhodium.
| ISOTOPE | Neutrons | Natural Abundance | Half-life | Decay Mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pt-190 | 112 | 0.012% | 4.97 × 10¹¹ yrs | α |
| Pt-192 | 114 | 0.782% | Stable | - |
| Pt-194 | 116 | 32.864% | Stable | - |
| Pt-195 | 117 | 33.775% | Stable | - |
| Pt-196 | 118 | 25.211% | Stable | - |
| Pt-198 | 120 | 7.356% | Stable | - |
Data: IAEA Nuclear Data Section, LiveChart of Nuclides, ground-state evaluations, retrieved October 10, 2026. Abundance is the share of atoms in the natural element; a dash means the isotope has no standard natural abundance.
Catalytic converters
The largest single use of platinum is in vehicle catalytic converters, especially for diesel engines, where it helps convert carbon monoxide, unburned fuel and nitrogen oxides into less harmful gases.
Jewelry and investment
Jewelry is another major use, with demand concentrated in China, Japan, India and the United States. Platinum is also bought as bars and coins.
Industry, medicine and science
Chemicals: platinum-rhodium gauzes catalyze the oxidation of ammonia to make nitric acid, and platinum catalysts upgrade gasoline in refineries.
Glass: platinum alloy vessels and bushings are used to melt glass and draw glass fiber.
Hydrogen: fuel cells and many electrolyzers use platinum catalysts.
Medicine: the cancer drugs cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin contain platinum, and platinum is used in pacemaker leads and other implants.
Measurement: platinum resistance thermometers and platinum-rhodium thermocouples measure temperature precisely. The international prototype of the kilogram, the world's mass standard from 1889 to 2019, is a platinum-iridium cylinder.
| Earth's Crust | N/A |
|---|---|
| Universe | N/A |