Platinum's rarity as a metal caused advertisers to associate it with exclusivity and wealth. "Platinum" credit cards have great privileges. "Platinum awards" are the highest possible, ranking above gold, silver and bronze.
Naturally occurring platinum and platinum rich alloys have been known for a long time. Though the metal was used by pre Columbian Native Americans, the first European reference to platinum appears in 1557 in the writings of the Italian humanist Julius Caesar Scaliger 1484-1558 when referring to a mysterious metal found in Central American mines between Darién and Mexico.
The Spaniards named the metal "platina," or little silver, when they first encountered it in Colombia. They saw platinum as an unwanted impurity in silver, and often discarded it.
The definition of a metre for a long time was on the distance between
two marks on a bar of a platinum iridium alloy housed in the Bureau
International des Poids et Mesures in Sèvres, France.
Platinum is a chemical element in the periodic table with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. A heavy, malleable, ductile, precious, grey white transition metal, platinum is resistant to corrosion and occurs in some nickel and copper ores along with some native deposits. Platinum is used in jewellery, laboratory equipment, electrical contacts, dentistry, and automobile emissions control devices.
The metal appears silvery white when pure, and firm. The metal is corrosion resistant. The catalytic properties of the six platinum family metals are massive.
Foreign names
Platin = German
Platine = French
Platino = Italian
Platino = Spanish
Platinu = lingua corsa (Corsican)
In 2002 A piece of a platinum soccer ball autographed by England soccer star Beckham fetched between 400,000 and 500,000 yen.
A platinum necklace dating back to the 1930s and worn in 2006 by US actress Jennifer Aniston for the Oscars
Drew Barrymore wore platinum drop earrings, for the oscar ceremony in 2005.
For the 2005 ceremony Debra Messing wore a sapphire and diamond tassel necklace by Sheila Goldfinger, pink diamond platinum studs by Alan Friedman,
In 2006 Blunt and Robbie Williams' albums went five-times platinum, according the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).
China's fashion conscious urban young are developing a growing appetite for the cool white look of platinum jewellery.
It was said by the BBC in 2003 China is the world's biggest market for platinum jewellery, it accounted for fifty five percent of the world market and the consumption was increasing fast.
Platinum blondes are often labelled as dumb in a streotype.
To go multi-platinum with your record in the UK is the biggest dream
in pop. In 2004 Platinum awards were awarded to artists who sell more
than 600,000 singles or 300,000 albums.
Many pop singers release "platinum albums" as another term
for a "greatest hits album" Cliff Richard is one to mention,
he did The Platinum Collection.
Terms that are similar to Platinum
Michel Platini was one of the great French soccer heroes of the 20th century.
In 1903 the Cuban government passed a law named the The Platt Amendment, 1903 it stated that the Government of Cuba shall never enter into any treaty or other compact with any foreign power or powers which will impair or tend to impair the independence of Cuba, and that the US may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence. Mind, remember the USA was occupying Cuba.
pentium is a computer processor company.
PLATENUM is a French acronym for Digital Technologies Laser Plat
The surname plate is of German and Dutch origin. A metonymic occupational
name for a maker of plate armor, from Middle High German blate, plate,
Middle Dutch plate ‘plate’, ‘armor plating’. In
German it can be a habitational name from a place so named in Mecklenburg.
In Dutch from West Flemish plate ‘plaice’, possibly a nickname
for someone thought to resemble a flat fish, or a metonymic occupational
name for a catcher or seller of these fish.
Latinum in star trek
In Star Trek latinum is a precious metal desired by the Ferengi especailly gold-pressed latinum
In the universe of Star Trek, Latinum is a major currency. Latinum's dominance as a currency is a result of its popularity with the Ferengi. Latinum is a liquid with the unique property that its molecular structure cannot be replicated or synthesized, providing the condition of shortage necessary for a substance to be used as currency. As it is difficult to properly measure liquid for currency transitions, premeasured amounts of latinum are inserted into hollow cores of gold bullion of various sizes, leading to the standard units of gold-pressed latinum: slip, strip, bar, and brick.
The Ferengi valued gold as a precious commodity until the 2370s, after which its use to them consisted of little more than suspending latinum in. Some primitive civilizations still value gold, somewhat.
While trapped in Earth's past, Spock required a "small" block of platinum ("5 or 6 pounds") to properly construct a duodynetic field core.
Platinum is not found on the planet Angel I, a fact that allowed the USS Enterprise-D find the survivors of the freighter Odin, who were hiding on the planet in 2364.
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