Background. Platinum (Pt) is primarily an industrial metal. ... Platinum is the active element in catalytic converters that convert unburned hydrocarbons into carbon dioxide and water vapour. Other ...

Platinum Group Elements (PGEs): A group of six chemically similar metallic elements, including platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium, that are critical in industrial ...

As things stand today, one of the rarest elements known to man is platinum: it takes a lot of effort to find the stuff, which has an average abundance of just 5 micrograms per kg in the Earth's crust.