A Brief History of Precious Metals in Watchmaking
Presenting the general properties and fascinating history of platinum.
The post A Brief History of Precious Metals in Watchmaking appeared first on LUXUO.
Precious metals, known as noble metals, have amazing origin stories. Indeed, everything
from helium to iron is forged in the hearts of stars. These elements are the products of
fusion reactions, essentially. Well precious metals go one better, and the platinum group
takes it to another level.
The alchemist?s dream of transforming matter is just a matter of existing; if stars exist, matter transformation is happening. Fusion turns hydrogen into helium as if it was the most natural thing in the universe. In fact, it is. One moment, hydrogen is going about its business as it has since the Big Bang, and then gravity invites it to a party and it meets a nice neutron (or two) and transforms into helium. Well, the poetic licence there is our own, and no one approved it. Please send your brickbats my way. Essentially though, that is how fusion works (minus a proper explanation of the strong force) but its transformative powers do not go past iron.
Hydrogen and helium are the most abundant materials in the observable universe, and are primordial. They are also amongst the least massive (i.e. lightest for shorthand) elements on the periodic table. Although helium can be produced through fusion, as mentioned, and radioactive decay (we will not go there), this kind of transformation has its limits. For heavier elements, ...
The post A Brief History of Precious Metals in Watchmaking appeared first on LUXUO.
Precious metals, known as noble metals, have amazing origin stories. Indeed, everything
from helium to iron is forged in the hearts of stars. These elements are the products of
fusion reactions, essentially. Well precious metals go one better, and the platinum group
takes it to another level.
The alchemist?s dream of transforming matter is just a matter of existing; if stars exist, matter transformation is happening. Fusion turns hydrogen into helium as if it was the most natural thing in the universe. In fact, it is. One moment, hydrogen is going about its business as it has since the Big Bang, and then gravity invites it to a party and it meets a nice neutron (or two) and transforms into helium. Well, the poetic licence there is our own, and no one approved it. Please send your brickbats my way. Essentially though, that is how fusion works (minus a proper explanation of the strong force) but its transformative powers do not go past iron.
Hydrogen and helium are the most abundant materials in the observable universe, and are primordial. They are also amongst the least massive (i.e. lightest for shorthand) elements on the periodic table. Although helium can be produced through fusion, as mentioned, and radioactive decay (we will not go there), this kind of transformation has its limits. For heavier elements, ...
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