Precious Metal Industrial Use Question.

Rhodium used to be used in plating in jewelry until the price went up.

Silver used to be used in coinage, but not now. Silver is one of the best conductors of electricity, and is used in electrical contacts. It is alloyed to make silver solder for plumbing applications.

Gold is the most ductile of metals, that is, it can be drawn into very thin wires or beaten into very thin sheets. In thin sheet form, it is used in gilding applications for decorative art. It's high cost is starting to preclude it's use for anything, except jewelry and as a backing to the money supply. It is, like silver, used for electrical contacts, where high reliability is required, because it does not corrode. Gold is the 19th most abundant element in the Earth's crust.

Platinum is the most useful of the above mentioned metals, because it is used as a catalyst, that is it can accelerate a chemical reaction when it is present, without actually taking part in the reaction. Obviously, the chemical industry has the heaviest demand on platinum. It usually has a higher price than gold, and is slightly denser. Platinum is much rarer in the Earth's crust than gold.

One of, if not the largest users of platinum and palladium is the automotive industry. Approximately one half ounce total (on average) of the two metals is in each and every catalytic converter produced (spread over a surface area as large as a football field), with platinum taking up the lion's share. New cars and aftermarket use amounts to millions and millions of ounces each year. Failed and scrapped converters are recycled and much of the metals are recovered, but by no means all of it is. I just had to buy a new converter for my car and they are $1000 now for the large ones like mine (20 years ago they were $300). Gold and platinum are used extensively in electronics and only a fraction of what is used is recovered through recycling. The largest user of silver by far used to be the film industry but that use has almost zeroed out.

http://purpleslinky.com/trivia/scie...mazing-uses/

dont know how credible it is. but there are a lot of listed uses.