Diamond is a very valuable mineral. In addition, it has a rigid structure as a feature. Diamond is a mineral with the ability to refract light. Thanks to this feature, it is a metal that is used in the production of jewelry and does not lose its popularity. Platinum, on the other hand, is extremely rare and more valuable than gold. In addition, although gold is found in wide geography in the world, platinum is distributed in a very narrow region. Platinum, a chemical element denoted by the symbol Pt in the periodic table, is a soft, machinable, grayish, and white precious metal. What if we compare these two materials?
Diamond and platinum are both very valuable materials. Their usage areas are different than each other. Diamond is mostly used in cutting and drilling jobs. On the other hand, platinum is generally used in the automotive and dentistry sectors. They both are used in jewelry making though. Let’s get into detail about the properties and usage areas of these two valuable materials together and compare them!
The most distinctive feature of the diamond is its hardness. It is shown with the highest number (10) in the Mohs hardness indicator used in mineralogy. This means it can scratch all other minerals. It is also a valuable jewelry item because of its durability and refraction of light very well. The hardness of the diamond mineral in all directions is not the same. However, X and Gamma rays are directed towards their hardest direction, enabling diamond to be used as a cutter in tools.
Artificial diamonds are produced for industrial use, but it is easily understood whether the diamond is artificial or natural, and the artificial one has no value as jewelry. Diamond shows nonmetallic properties. Its melting point is 3547°C. Its density is about 3.5 gr/cm³. It burns in air at 850°C. It turns into graphite at 1500°C in an airless environment. At room temperature, no substance acts. With fluorine, it forms carbon tetrafluoride (CF4) at 750 °C. It does not combine with other halogens. Diamond crystallizes in an isometric system.
Each carbon atom is bonded to four surrounding carbon atoms to form a regular tetrahedron. More precisely, it looks like two square-bottomed pyramids that have come face to face. There may also be the presence of foreign atoms in the mineral. But there is only one foreign atom per 10,000 carbon atoms. In fact, there is only one foreign atom per 100,000 atoms in a beautiful natural diamond.
Platinum is an indispensable metal in the jewelry industry with its unique features, besides being more expensive than gold and the natural superiority of its rarity in nature. In other words, a product made using platinum is 30 times more durable than one made of gold. The fact that platinum is much more resistant to corrosion compared to all known metals and that it is more dense, stable, and has very high wear resistance compared to gold has created the preference for it to be used naturally with precious stones such as diamonds.
Besides, the fact that platinum does not have an allergenic structure allows it to be used by every person who cannot use other jewelry and accessories. With these features, the importance of platinum has started to be understood day by day, thus it has become even more popular. In particular, the Japanese have a special sensitivity to platinum and consume 48% of the world’s platinum products. This interesting result makes people want to explore why the Japanese love platinum so much.
In addition to being an indispensable metal in the jewelry industry, platinum has become a very common metal in the industry, especially in the field of technology, with its unique chemical structure and physical properties. Platinum is a very powerful catalyst. For this reason, platinum is used in catalytic converters in automobile exhaust systems and at the tips of spark plugs. LCD screens, hard disks, fiber optic cables, laboratory equipment, cancer drugs, dentistry are just a few of the uses of platinum.
Diamond and Platinum: Best Materials in the Industry
We discovered in 1814 that diamond is pure carbon. It is found in the sands formed as a result of the molten metals underground in nature or the erosion of these minerals. It is most commonly found in rocks called kimberlite in the Republic of South Africa, Tanzania, and the USA, as well as in alluvial deposits in Brazil, Zaire, Sierra Leone, and India. Diamond is the hardest known object.
Its hardness varies slightly depending on the position of the crystal. It is not chemically active. It has a refractive index of 2.41 and reflects light to all surfaces. This gives the diamond its luminosity. It does not conduct electricity, it conducts heat very well. Although it is colorless, it can be yellowish, brown, red, or even black in color. It is a very valuable stone due to its optical and mechanical properties, as well as its rarity. Natural diamond crystals are processed and used as ornaments. Dark-colored diamonds, on the other hand, are mostly used for cutting tools, drills, sandpapers, etc.
These tools are used for cutting and processing very hard objects. The production of rhinestones has been tried many times. For the first time in 1887, Moisson suddenly cooled the molten iron-carbon mixture at 3,500°C and obtained black-colored transparent diamond grains under the influence of the pressure. In 1936, J. W. Hershey succeeded in obtaining a good quality diamond of 2x1x1 mm in the same process. Today, artificial diamonds are produced especially in the USA.
On the other hand, platinum is another valuable material that is commonly used in the high technology industrial fields. Why is platinum valuable? Because it is much rarer and stronger than gold. So much so that platinum is found 30 times less than even gold. Platinum is found deeper in the ground than gold. Therefore, it is very difficult and costly to extract compared to gold. The answer to the question of why platinum is expensive is hidden in this difficulty. Think of it this way, if they put all the sinkers ever produced in a swimming pool, it would be enough to fill them up to your ankles.
About 80 percent of the platinum is produced in South Africa. The second address for platinum production is Russia, followed by Canada. If you ask where platinum is used most, there are 4 basic uses of platinum:
- Automotive: About half (40 percent) of platinum consumption worldwide is made by the automotive industry. It is used as a catalyst in fuel cells and in exhaust systems.
- Industry & Medicine: It is used in many industrial productions from chemical processes to hard drives and in various medical applications from dentistry to bone treatments. The consumption of 20 percent of platinum is in this area.
- Jewelry: Platinum is also used in the making of various jewelry. With the spread of platinum wedding rings, the use of platinum in jewelry production is also increasing. 30 percent of total platinum consumption comes from platinum jewelry.
- Investment: The use of platinum as an investment tool is approximately 10 percent of the total platinum demand.
Platinum comes from the Spanish word Platino, meaning “little silver”. Platinum was named platinum by the Spanish general Ulloa because of its silvery color. Although not as old as gold and silver, platinum is also used as an investment tool around the world. If you are investing in precious metals for long-term investment, you can consider platinum as an alternative to gold or silver.
Properties of Diamond
Diamond is an excellent electrical insulator. It can be cut without being damaged due to its thermal conductivity feature. This rate is 4 times higher than copper. We can say that this feature is the reason why the diamond is called “ice”. Diamond also has an incredible heat expansion coefficient, which is very stable given many acids and alkalis.
In addition, diamond is very transparent and is one of the few materials with a negative reaction function. Due to its negative electron similarity, diamond repels water but does not react to hydrocarbons (oils, wax). Diamond also has a uniquely high gravitational effect. The light atomic mass it takes from carbon atoms is surprisingly dense. One of the most interesting properties of diamond is the extreme refraction and scattering of light.
Diamonds have the highest reflection and refraction rate among transparent materials. Diamonds are usually colorless or pale blue, but colored ones can be found in any color that makes up the rainbow. While boron gives the diamond its blue color, it gets its yellow color effect from nitrogen. These are the color residues commonly found in diamonds. Kimberlite and lamproite-type volcanic rocks are among those that have a high probability of containing diamonds.
Some diamonds fluoresce in a range of colors from blue to purple, making them visible even in the daytime under strong light. Some blue fluorescent diamonds can glow yellow phosphorus in the dark when they are exposed to light for a long time during the day.
More About Diamonds
The youngest is estimated to be 990 million years old, and the oldest is 3.2 billion years old. In addition, it was announced that the age of a diamond found in Australia in 2007 is 4.2 billion years. The age of the diamond contains a lot of information about the formation of the world. Diamonds were formed between 150 km and 200 km deep in the earth’s crust, in environments with great heat and pressure. Features of the environment in which the diamond occurs deep in the earth’s crust:
Heat; between about 900 – 1300 degrees C;
Pressure; Between 45 – 60 kilo bars,
Depth; can be counted as 100 -200 km below the earth’s crust.
Today, diamonds produced in a laboratory environment are produced according to high-temperature, high-pressure techniques. While 80 percent of the mined metal is used in industry, only 20 percent is converted into jewelry.
- During diamond cutting and polishing, each stone loses approximately more than half of its original weight.
- Less than 5% of jeweled diamonds are larger than one carat.
- The diamond can be of any color. The rarest is red.
- The highest price per carat at diamond auctions was $1 million for a 0.95-carat purplish-red diamond.
- If all the diamonds ever cut and polished had been collected, only one double-decker bus could be filled.
- The tradition of gifting a diamond ring as a symbol of love and devotion began in the 15th century, when Archduke Maximillian of Austria presented a diamond ring to Mary, Duchess of Burgundy, during her engagement.
- Until 2002, between 4 and 15 percent of diamonds came from the so-called conflict zone. These diamonds are known as “Blood Diamonds”. Despite the international system called the Kimberley Document, it is still almost impossible to say exactly where the diamonds come from.
- Americans buy almost 50 percent of the world’s diamond jewelry;
- A diamond can be cut into four different pieces without falling apart or creating crumbs.
- The high pressure needed to shape the diamond; Equal to the pressure on the surface of the plate by placing the Eiffel Tower upside down on a 10 cm plate;
- The density of the diamonds allows them to have the ability to bend the light or change the direction of the light to the maximum possible degree. Because light can pass through the ore. Some diamonds even have the ability to change color.
- The specially cut form of a raw diamond with 57 facets is called a diamond. Facet is the name given to angled surfaces that reflect light. There are 57 facets on the diamond.
The existence of diamonds has been known since ancient times and has been used by many civilizations as a valuable item. In India, which was the only source of the diamond until the 18th century, BC. The existence of diamonds has been known since 800 BC. In addition, the earliest evidence of the existence of diamonds is found in India. In 1905, a Sanskrit manuscript dated to the 4th century BC was found and translated into different languages as the “Lesson of Earnings”.
These records were written by a high-ranking palace official named Kautilya, who was in the palace of King Chandragupta. He described a perfect diamond as “large, heavy, with symmetrical dots, capable of scratching glass, and shining very brightly”.
Platinum in Detail
Platinum is a very durable and heavy metal used in different fields such as automotive, chemical industry, and medicine. Because it is a rare element, it is among the most precious metals. One of its most important features is that it is resistant to corrosion and does not rust for many years. Platinum was first used in the Americas in the 12th century. After the discovery of America in 1492, platinum, which was used first in the Netherlands and then in Portugal, spread throughout the European Continent in a short time.
Platinum is a type of metal that is resistant to chemical reactions and has catalytic properties. Platinum, which is on the list of precious metals, is mostly mined in Mozambique, the Republic of South Africa, and Botswana. The gases emitted from the exhaust of cars are harmful to both human health and the environment. The catalyst, especially platinum, reduces the emission rate in the exhaust by 50%. Platinum, one of the brightest metals, is also frequently preferred in the jewelry industry.
Platinum does not contain radiation and does not contain any alloys harmful to human health. Therefore, it has ideal standards for safe and healthy use. The most important feature of platinum dental crowns, also known as zirconium, is their very high light transmittance. Platinum, which is used in fracture-dislocation treatments, allows the bones to fuse in a much shorter time. Knee prostheses made of platinum are used in orthopedics and traumatology treatments.
Platinum is often used in making jewelry such as rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets, along with gold and silver. Platinum, which functions as a catalyst, is also a metal used in refining units, various power plants, and oil processing centers.
Features and Usage Areas of Platinum
It is an element with atomic number 78 and the symbol Pt in the periodic table. It is the second most precious metal known. It is much more valuable than gold. The reason why it is so precious is that besides its rarity, its usage areas are quite wide. Its usage area is very large, but the world’s total production is very, very low. Here are the properties of platinum:
- It has a silvery-white color
- It is highly resistant to corrosion. It has the feature of not being corroded in the air at any temperature.
- It has many catalytic properties. Thanks to this feature, spark plug tips are used in catalytic converters in automobile exhausts.
- It is very resistant to chemicals and withstands superior temperatures.
- It is very resistant to abrasion and tarnishing.
- Because it is very valuable, it is 2-3 times worth of gold.
- It corrodes only by cyanide, halogen, sulfur, and alkalis.
- It is found in nature in solid form.
- In terms of cubic centimeters, it has a density of 21.45 grams.
- Its density in liquid form is 19.77 g/cm3.
- It melts at 1768 degrees.
- It boils at 3825 degrees.
- It is an element with a hardness of 3.5 Mohs.
- It is a heavy element but malleable.
Among the uses of platinum are the following sectors:
- In automobile exhaust and control devices
- in dentistry
- in jewelry
- In the laboratory instruments and devices
- In electrical contacts
- In the construction of electric furnaces due to their high-temperature resistance
- Mouth coatings of jet and missile engines
- In the processing of petroleum products as a catalyst
- In cathodic protection systems of submarine pipelines and large ships
- It is used in thermometers and electrodes.
- It is the third densest known element in terms of density. For example, it is three times heavier than iron of the same size. While 1 cm3 of iron is 7.8 grams, that of platinum is 21.45 grams.
Various countries produce platinum, but its amounts are very, very small. The largest known producers are the Republic of South Africa, Russia, and Canada. Next comes Colombia. According to 2012 data on platinum, which is a very valuable mineral, the annual total production amount is only 68 tons. Because of this rare production, it is shown as the second most expensive element. Although the demand is quite high, the production amount is very low, so it does not have a price that can be determined like gold and silver. But in general, it is worth three times more than gold.
Pricing of Platinum
If you ask what affects the price of platinum, it is basically the balance of supply and demand, as in other precious metals. If the demand for platinum increases or the production of platinum decreases, the value of platinum rises. Due to the very limited production of platinum, the rise or fall of platinum can be more drastic compared to gold and silver. The price of another precious metal palladium, which is an alternative to the use of platinum in industry, also significantly affects platinum.
If you ask how else the platinum prices are determined; In periods when investors’ interest in alternative investment instruments increases, the value of platinum may increase. For example, interest in platinum may increase in a period when interest rates are low and/or uncertainties increase. If you ask how platinum rises, as the production in the automotive and electronics sectors increases, the platinum consumption in the industry increases accordingly, which increases the value of platinum.
Let’s see the factors affecting platinum prices with the historical development of platinum prices. At the beginning of 2008, the price of platinum rose to $2,252 an ounce. The main reason for the increase in the price of platinum was the production disruptions due to electricity shortages in the platinum mines in South Africa, the largest producer of platinum, and the decrease in supply, that is production. But towards the end of 2008, the ounce price of platinum began to fall to a record low. So much so that platinum prices fell by a third to $ 774!
Although platinum prices, which started to rise again until 2011, reached up to $ 1,882, then they started to decline again. The platinum price comments given by the experts regarding the decrease in platinum prices are as follows:
Investors’ disdain for platinum during the 2008 financial crisis. The shift of platinum consumption from investor interest to predominantly industrial consumption. Solving the electricity shortage in the platinum mines in South Africa. The increase in platinum production especially since 2014.
What about platinum prices, which peaked in 2008 and then fell sharply? According to the current platinum price analysis comments, when the price ratio is considered, it is trading below the platinum value. However, this does not mean that platinum prices will rise tomorrow. The main thing that affected the periods when the value of platinum was different compared to gold is the industrial use of platinum.
Gold can be a popular investment tool especially in times of economic crisis, as it is in the reserves of even central banks, is very liquid, and is preferred by investors all over the world. On the other hand, unlike gold, the usage rate of platinum as an investment tool is quite low. Only 10% of the total platinum demand in the world is investment-oriented. For this reason, the price of platinum may drop sharply due to the decrease in industrial production during economic crisis periods.
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