Precious Metals and Their Chemical Definition
In addition to gold and platinum There are other chemical substances that are considered precious metals: ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, silver, osmium, iridium and mercury. There are also the short-lived, radioactive precious metals Bohrium, Hassium, Meitnerium, Darmstadtium, Roentgenium and Copernicium as well as the semi-precious metals Technetium, rhenium, copper, antimony, bismuth and polonium.
characteristics of precious metals
A precious metal is characterized by being particularly well protected against corrosion, which means that a precious metal does not tend to oxidize. In addition, precious metals cannot be destroyed by hydrochloric acid.
When you hear the term precious metal, you usually think of the most common precious metals: gold, platinum and silver, which also play an important role in the jewelry industry.
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The precious metal gold and its religious connotations
The German word gold comes from the Indo-European language, where gehl means shiny and yellow. Au, the chemical symbol for the precious metal, is derived from the Latin word aurum.
The precious metal gold already plays an important role in the Old Testament of the Bible. It is mentioned a total of 389 times in this book, and its significance is very diverse: the precious metal gold is an important material for the construction of Israel's sanctuary and for the construction of King Solomon's temple.
The precious metal also had an important role to play in the advanced Egyptian culture. It was considered a sacred metal associated with the sun and was used to make statues of gods. Kings were also given burial items made of gold, including amulets, jewelry and masks.
cultural-historical significance
The precious metals gold, platinum and silver have had a fascinating effect on people for thousands of years. The precious metals were used early on for jewellery, but also as a means of payment. and to make coins from precious metals. In addition, precious metals have always had an ideal and religious significance.
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Platinum – a long-undervalued precious metal
The precious metal platinum (from the Spanish platina = small silver) can also look back on a long history.
As early as 3,000 BC, it was used in small quantities to make jewelry in ancient Egypt.
Platinum continued to be particularly valued in South America by the Incas, who used the precious metal for the production of ceremonial objects.
Although platinum is even more valuable than gold, it is not nearly as symbolic as the precious metal and was not valued for a long time.
It was not until the 18th century that the true value of platinum was recognized: the precious metal was classified by the Swede Theophil Scheffer and has since been ranked even higher than gold - not least because of its rarer occurrence and higher fineness.
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Silver – one of the precious metals with a long tradition
The chemical symbol for the precious metal silver is Ag. It is derived from the Latin word for silver - argentum. This word in turn comes from the Greek word agyrus, which can be translated as white-metallic. The country Argentina is named after the precious metal because there are rich deposits of silver ore there. The German term silver has its roots in the Old Norse languages, for example among the Goths (silbur) and the Germanic tribes (silabra) and means bright, white and light.
Today it is assumed that the precious metal silver was already in use in the 5th millennium BC. The Egyptians revered silver as the lunar metal and the Greeks and Romans also attached great importance to the precious metal. In the Middle Ages, numerous new deposits of silver were discovered. The largest mining area, which was responsible for around 80% of the production of the precious metal, was near the Austrian town of Schwaz, the Schwaz miners. In the 16th century, silver, which had previously been highly valued, increasingly lost value as it was now also being imported from Latin America and Japan, thus dramatically increasing the supply. Silver's importance declined even further when it was hardly used as a precious metal for currencies from 1870 onwards. Other precious metals were preferred here from then on.
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Things to know
