Abstract
The six platinum metals occur naturally in close association and strong chemical similarities were evident long before Mendeleev published his Periodic Table. In 1860 Claus announced his view that the platinum metals formed ‘an isolated metallic group, inseparable and solidly constituted’. The physical and metallurgical evidence that has since been accumulated fully confirms the validity of this early chemical generalization. Despite the variable resistance of the platinum metals to oxidation, evidence for their nobility is provided by their positions in the electrochemical series and by their high resistance to corrosion.
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