What Is the Heaviest Precious Metal? And What Does Weight Have to Do with Value?
We hope you’re visiting our home page daily to check on current trading prices for your favorite precious metals. Hopefully, they are the precious metals you have invested in, and own.
But today, we would like to consider the relationship between weight and value. Because you see, certain metals are simply heavier than others. That’s another way of saying, for example, that if you have two identically sized cubes of, say, aluminum and platinum, the aluminum cube is going to weigh a lot less than the one that is made of platinum. To look at it from a different perspective, let’s say you want to make two cubes – again of aluminum and platinum – and you want them both to weigh one ounce. If you do that, the aluminum cube is going to be about four times the size of the one that is made of platinum.
It all has to do with specific weight per mass.
Comparing the Weight of Metals
Still with me? Good! Because I am now going to get specific and let you know the comparative weights of common metals, including those precious metals you like to invest in.
Here are the weights of those metals, in pounds per cubic foot. I’ll start with the heaviest metals first and move to the lightest.
Aluminum – 168.48 lbs. per cubic foot
Titanium – 283.39 lbs. per cubic foot
Cadmium – 540.86 lbs. per cubic foot
Copper – 559.87 lbs. per cubic foot
*Silver – 654.91 lbs. per cubic foot
Lead – 707.96 lbs. per cubic foot
*Palladium – 712.00 lbs. per cubic foot
*Rhodium – 755.00 lbs. per cubic foot
*Ruthenium – 765.00 lbs. per cubic foot
*Gold – 1206.83 lbs. per cubic foot
*Platinum – 1339.20 lbs. per cubic foot
*Osmium – 1402.00 lbs. per cubic foot
* Precious metal
How Does Specific Weight Help Determine Value?
It does, in a number of ways. Here are some examples that demonstrate how.
A platinum ring will weigh more than a gold or silver ring of exactly the same size. Platinum has a higher weight per mass, so it will weigh more. And when you factor in trading prices with platinum trading at $1,176 per Troy Ounce, vs. $27.72 for silver, you can quickly tell that if you are looking at similar rings made of platinum and silver, the one made of platinum is going to be worth much, much more.
The malleability of the metal comes into play too. A highly malleable metal is a comparatively softer one that can be fashioned into a number of shapes. Gold, for example, is extremely malleable, making it easy to fashion into all kinds of jewelry. But let’s consider platinum too, also highly malleable. That explains why it can be fashioned into materials like platinum sponge or platinum mesh (both used in a variety of manufacturing processes). It also explains why even a small quantity of platinum can be used to manufacture a large volume of mesh. As a precious metal investor, you can’t judge the value of scrap you’re looking at by using your eyes; a scale is the only way you can get a preliminary idea of how much platinum you are looking at, by weight.
Oxidation is another factor to consider. Sometimes, a pile of used platinum or platinum-rhodium scrap that has been used in an industrial process has oxidized to the point where it doesn’t look like a metal at all. It looks like a pile of brownish flakes. But don’t be deceived, because even corroded platinum and platinum-rhodium are extremely valuable.
Even better, we can test your precious metal scrap, extract the precious metals it contains, and pay you promptly for your materials.
Want to know more? Call us at 800-426-2344 to learn more about our services.