And scientists deem these three the “real” noble metals because of their electronic structure.Ĭopper does react with oxygen, which is where the Statue of Liberty got its bluish-green color.īut the result of copper interacting with oxygen is not corrosion, like rust. Historically, copper, silver, and gold have been known as the coinage metals. Ruthenium, Rhodium, Osmium, and Iridium.The noble metals in chemistry are the following: They don’t interact with the peasants-the other elements on the periodic table that are always “interacting” with others and debasing themselves. I want you to think of the noble metals as the royalty of all metals. Just like there are noble gases (noble meaning “inert”), these metals are not active. So that leaves us with what are known as the “noble” metals. The Noble Metals – Gold, Silver, Platinum, Palladium… Politicians and central bankers don’t need any help doing that they do a wonderful job of debasing currency on their own. And the last thing you want is a metal that debases itself. Iron is active, and it would be fun to watch its decay on a reality TV show for entertainment value.īut it’s bad if you want to use it as a currency. Iron, for example, has many useful applications, but it oxidizes and then rusts. You want it to hold its own, maintain its integrity, and not degrade. If you want a metal for long-term storage value, you don’t want it to change. Of the ninety-five metals in the periodic table, eighty-five are “active.” This means they are fun to watch on our reality TV show because they are always hooking up with other elements.īut remember that activity always results in oxidation or corrosion. There are ninety-five metal elements in the periodic table. Note: For the chemistry nerds among us, I don’t count Oganesson and antimony as metals-call me old school. Thus, we end up with ninety-five elemental metal contestants on our Currency Reality Show. Take away the 17 gases (gases are of no value for this exercise).Īlso remove the six metalloids, which are elements that don’t know whether they are metals or non-metals since they have traits of both (e.g., antimony, arsenic, silicon). There are 118 elements in the periodic table, of which gold is one. Let me explain why this is important-chemically speaking. Yes, gold is the ultimate celibate element. If all the elements in the periodic table were characters in a reality TV show, gold would easily be the most boring. That makes gold an excellent store of value. It does not react with oxygen like iron does (think rust). Today I want to talk about the scientific (chemical) reasons that separate gold from all of the other metals in the periodic table.įirst, gold is inert, which means it’s very inactive. We’ve all heard the macroeconomic arguments in favor of owning gold.
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