Technological breakthrough made it possible to use platinum in industry
Thanks to his development, the use of platinum quickly spread through various branches of industry. The Company's customers soon included goldsmiths shops and jewelry factories around the world, as well as dental factories, chemical laboratories, and companies in numerous other industrial sectors. In 1857 W. C. Heraeus produced only 30 kilograms of pure platinum, but by 1896 the Company's annual volume was already more than 1,000 kilograms.
Wilhelm Carl Heraeus studied Chemistry and Pharmaceutics in Göttingen where he was taught by Friedrich Wöhler, perhaps the most famous chemistry professor of his time. In 1851 he took over his father's Einhorn-Apotheke or "Unicorn" Pharmacy in Hanau, a town east of Frankfurt. His thorough scientific education served him well. While other pharmacists had difficulties getting valuable chemicals like pure hydrofluoric acid or metals like rubidium and cesium, Heraeus simply produced them himself. But the platinum problem is what really fueled the ambitious entrepreneur's efforts. It was known that platinum, which has a melting point of 1,770 °C, could be melted with a oxyhydrogen gas flame, a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen, but this process only succeed in gram quantities in the lab. Using his blower apparatus, Heraeus was able to generate sufficient amounts of oxyhydrogen gas to create a large enough flame front to melt large quantities of scrap platinum and other materials containing platinum in lime crucibles and produce high-purity platinum in a single step.
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Precise weighing is critical in laboratory and industrial environments. From accurate dosing of chemicals for research experiments to mass production of products, precise weight determination is often the first and most critical step. Modern balances and weighing instruments are sophisticated, offer impressive precision and are resilient to external influences such as temperature and humidity.
Topic world Weighing
Precise weighing is critical in laboratory and industrial environments. From accurate dosing of chemicals for research experiments to mass production of products, precise weight determination is often the first and most critical step. Modern balances and weighing instruments are sophisticated, offer impressive precision and are resilient to external influences such as temperature and humidity.