Domestic production and use

Platinum occurs native, accompany by small quantities of iridium, osmium, palladium ruthenium, and rhodium, all belong to the same group of metals. These are found in the alluvial deposits of the Ural mountains, of Columbia, and of certain western American states. Sperrylite, occurring with the nickel-bearing deposits of Sudbury, Ontario, is the source of a considerable amount of metal.

Substitutes

1. Platinum is a good-looking silvery-white metal, when pure, and is impressionable and ductile.
2. It has a coefficient of growth almost equal to that of soda-lime-silica glass, and is consequently used to make sealed electrodes in glass systems.
3. The metal does not oxidize in air at any temperature, but is corroded by halogens, cyanides, sulfur, and caustic alkalis.
4. It is inexplicable in hydrochloric and nitric acid, but dissolve when they are mixed as aqua regia, forming chloroplatinic acid.

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