Iridium vs Platinum
Iridium and Platinum are genuine alternatives to one another — a choice somebody actually makes — and differ on 5 measured properties, density most clearly.
Iridium vs Platinum
Iridium
Ir
The most corrosion-resistant metal known, and the fingerprint of the asteroid that ended the Cretaceous.
Platinum
Pt
A metal too refractory for the Spanish to melt, discarded as an impurity in silver, and now central to catalysis.
| Property | Iridium | Platinum |
|---|---|---|
| Atomic number | 77 | 78 higher |
| Density | 22.56 g/cm³ higher | 21.45 g/cm³ |
| Electrical conductivity Only one of the two has a figure we can stand behind, so there is nothing to compare. | Not known | 9.4 MS/m |
| Melting point | 2466 °C higher | 1768 °C |
| Mohs hardness Mohs hardness is an ordinal scale: values can be ranked, but differences and ratios between them are not meaningful. | about 6.5 higher | about 3.5 |
| Molar mass | 192.217 g/mol | 195.084 g/mol higher |