Platinum vs Rhodium
Platinum and Rhodium are genuine alternatives to one another — a choice somebody actually makes — and differ on 5 measured properties, density most clearly.
Platinum vs Rhodium
Platinum
Pt
A metal too refractory for the Spanish to melt, discarded as an impurity in silver, and now central to catalysis.
| Property | Platinum | Rhodium |
|---|---|---|
| Atomic number | 78 higher | 45 |
| Density | 21.45 g/cm³ higher | 12.41 g/cm³ |
| Electrical conductivity Only one of the two has a figure we can stand behind, so there is nothing to compare. | 9.4 MS/m | Not known |
| Melting point | 1768 °C | 1966.1 °C higher |
| Mohs hardness Mohs hardness is an ordinal scale: values can be ranked, but differences and ratios between them are not meaningful. | about 3.5 | about 6 higher |
| Molar mass | 195.084 g/mol higher | 102.90549 g/mol |