Silver and Platinum - Comparison - Properties

This article contains comparison of key thermal and atomic properties of silver and platinum, two comparable chemical elements from the periodic table. It also contains basic descriptions and applications of both elements. Silver vs Platinum.

silver and platinum - comparison

Compare silver with another element

Compare platinum with another element

Silver and Platinum – About Elements

Silver

Silver is a soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. The metal is found in the Earth’s crust in the pure, free elemental form (“native silver”), as an alloy with gold and other metals, and in minerals such as argentite and chlorargyrite. Most silver is produced as a byproduct of copper, gold, lead, and zinc refining.

Platinum

Platinum is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Platinum is one of the least reactive metals. It has remarkable resistance to corrosion, even at high temperatures, and is therefore considered a noble metal. Platinum is used in catalytic converters, laboratory equipment, electrical contacts and electrodes, platinum resistance thermometers, dentistry equipment, and jewelry.

Silver in Periodic Table

Platinum in Periodic Table

Source: www.luciteria.com

Silver and Platinum – Applications

Silver

Silver has long been valued as a precious metal. Silver metal is used in many bullion coins, sometimes alongside gold. Silver has many important, far-reaching technological and electronic applications. It’s used in everything from cell phones, computers and semiconductors to automobiles, water-purification systems and—because it is the best conductor of heat of all elements—spacecraft solar radiation tiles. Silver is of the upmost importance in photography (where approximately 30% of the U.S. Industrial consumption goes into this application). The medical uses of silver include its use in wound dressings, creams, and as an antibiotic coating on medical devices. Wound dressings containing silver sulfadiazine or silver nanomaterials may be used on external infections.

Platinum

Platinum is primarily an industrial metal. It is a critical material for many industries and is considered a strategic metal. Platinum is used as a catalyst, platinum is mostly found in vehicle catalytic converters that reduce toxic exhaust chemicals, and also in fuel cells to increase efficiency. The most common use of platinum is as a catalyst in chemical reactions, often as platinum black. In catalytic converters, platinum allows the complete combustion of low concentrations of unburned hydrocarbons from the exhaust into carbon dioxide and water vapor. Platinum has been used in thermocouple devices that measure temperature with high accuracy. Platinum is a component in magnetic coatings for high-density hard disk drives and some of the newer optical storage systems.

Silver and Platinum – Comparison in Table

Element	Silver	Platinum
Density	10.49 g/cm3	21.09 g/cm3
Ultimate Tensile Strength	110 MPa	150 MPa
Yield Strength	45 MPa	70 MPa
Young’s Modulus of Elasticity	83 GPa	168 GPa
Mohs Scale	3.25	3.5
Brinell Hardness	210 MPa	400 MPa
Vickers Hardness	251 MPa	550 MPa
Melting Point	961.78 °C	1772 °C
Boiling Point	2162 °C	3827 °C
Thermal Conductivity	430 W/mK	72 W/mK
Thermal Expansion Coefficient	18.9 µm/mK	8.8 µm/mK
Specific Heat	0.235 J/g K	0.13 J/g K
Heat of Fusion	11.3 kJ/mol	19.6 kJ/mol
Heat of Vaporization	250.58 kJ/mol	510 kJ/mol