What is more expensive per ounce **pure[/p] titanium or pure platinum?
Titanium is the 9th most abundant element in the earth’s crust. It is not that easy to refine or work with, but it is far less expensive than platinum.
Cite? For some reason I could’ve sworn Titanium was man made.
In fact, I know for sure we learned in school that Titanium was the only mad made element but I went to a pretty disgusting school. A lot of things I learned there turned out to be complete BS.
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- Not certain about the details, but Titanium is the ingredient that makes white beach sand white. It is expensive not because it is rare, but because it has to be smelted out electrically–any type of burning fuel introduces contaminants into it that prevent it from solidifying… or something…
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- Not certain about the details, but Titanium is the ingredient that makes white beach sand white. It is expensive not because it is rare, but because it has to be smelted out electrically–any type of burning fuel introduces contaminants into it that prevent it from solidifying… or something…
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I know if you want something really white (like a car paint) chances are it contains Titanium Oxide. I had a friend who worked in the plant that made the stuff. It is definitely not man made (if you mean as in created in a nuclear reactor).
The following would support it being widely distributed on the earth’s surface:
http://www.webelements.com/webelements/elements/text/Ti/geol.html
Courtesy of a titanium ring site, here are some titanium facts and history.
My wedding ring will be titanium, because it matches my earrings and my watch. A titanium ring, size 9, with a 7mm band costs around $120 at the mall. Similar platinum rings go for 10 times that.
** Don’t worry, we were just researching styles, and will not get raped at the mall. **
I think you are slighlty confused here. Sand is a mixture of silica (the shiny crystal bits) and grains of rock, shell ect. the whiteness of sand is caused by multiple scattering of the light by the silica particles.
Titania is a whitening agent in paints and plastics. It is man made.
Here is a historical record of all metal prices for the last thirty or so years (pdf).
http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/metal_prices/metal_prices1998.pdf
Titania sponge (93% pure) is about $4 /lb. If you wanted to produce the pure metal I would guess you are looking at 3x that. Platinum is about $400/ounce. No contest
Nitpick: There are many types of sand. Silica sand is usually a darker tan color than aragonite, or coral sand, calcium carbonate, which is really bright white. FTR, the link is vastly overpriced, as the same sand is sold as South Down Play Sand at Home Depot in some parts of the country. Other locations sell silica sand which is inferior for reef aquaria.
Platinum is very expensive. It’s one of the best catalysts there is. As far as I know, it’s the catalyst in Hydrogen fuel cells on rockets. I remember reading somewhere that if it wasn’t so rare and expensive, we would be using Hydrogen cells a lot more. But then again, that was out of Reader’s Digest :rolleyes:
I just want to reiterate here that titanium is NOT a man made element. It wasn’t purified (99.9%) until 1910, but the element and compounds containing it are found in moon rocks, meteorites and M-type stars, as well as on earth.
I’ve never heard of “Titania” though except as a moon of Uranus, and in association with various artists.
Titania was the fairy queen in “A midsummer night’s dream”, and the uranian moon was named after that character… (I think all the major moons of uranus were named after fantasy spirits in shakespeare) but that isn’t really relevant to the discussion. 
Look into the different alloys available. My titanium band is a softer alloy so while it seems to be quite strong it scratches fairly easily. Given how I am with jewelry it no longer resembles the original satin finish but that doesn’t bother me.
thats cause you aint a chemist!
titania here Titanium Dioxide - Titania ( TiO2)
Have you heard of silica and alumina?
Same deal; titania is an oxide of titanium, silica is an oxide of silicon and alumina is an oxide of aluminium - or aluminum, if you prefer ;).
Seeking deep onto the recesses of my brain, I seem to think that titania is a dioxide, as is silica while alumina is a trioxide, with 2 aluminium molecules, but I might be mistaken*.
*Fairly likely, actually.
Okay, well that’s interesting. So… titanium is an element which is found in nature, and titania is a name for titanium dioxide, a compound of titanium which is NOT found in nature.
Does that pretty much sum up the ‘found in nature’ extent of this thread? 
mmm I spoke too soon. :smack: There are many sand deposits round the world that contain significant amounts of titanium, either as rutile (black/brown) or rutile (white). These rutile beaches would then be an example of titania compounds scattering.
However, the majority of beaches are either calcium carbonate or silica based.
actually wrong way round. Titanium as a metal is never found in nature. Titanium compounds (including titanium dioxide as rutile) are.
Isn’t Titanium known for it’s strength yet relatively light weight? Thus it’s use in sports equipment i.e. golf clubs, tennis racquets, etc. It does make the equipment more pricey than average but I wouldn’t put it in “precious metal” status.
Platinum on the other hand is very strong and very heavy, considered a “precious metal” and costs more than gold. Check out the prices on simple platinum wedding bands.
You’re thinking of technetium.