Platinum has come up in the weekly Wednesday online game I play in. I got to thinking about it and used some Google-fu to ask if platinum corrodes or tarnishes.

The Wikipedia page on platinum gives the lowdown, and it is among the least reactive metals. So unlike silver that tarnishes, it will retain a silvery sheen in nearly all circumstances. (Yes, I know that’s not what the title of the article says.)

Likewise, gold does not tarnish or corrode easily.

Copper turns green over time, thus the green shad of the Statue of Liberty. Brass and bronze, alloys of copper tend to darken over time. Bronze is copper and tin, and the process of making bronze is not toxic. Brass is copper and zinc, and its manufacture results in zinc oxide, which is toxic. Bronze and brass can turn dark from exposure to sulfur or green from exposure to oxygen. Only regular care to keep it clean will prevent it from changing color.

I am not sure where I read it in the past year, but bronze weapons are sharpened by hammering, not by a whetstone, like iron and steel. Also bronze weapons that get bent in use, can somewhat easily be straightened without damage to the tool. Skallagim has a video using a modern bronze sword that shows just how tough they are.

Wikipedia’s article on bronze says that some speculate that a disruption in the tin trade lead to the increased use of iron.

I’m not saying you need to have a background in chemistry to give an accurate description of the condition of a treasure hoard of mixed metals, but knowing how various metals behave and their coloration can help add to the description. Players that don’t know that platinum is very resistant to tarnishing and corroding, will think there is something extra special about the silvery metal that is not corroded, perhaps thinking it is magical, until they learn otherwise.

Of course, the mythical metals of mithril and adamantium are corrosion resistant. Will players mistake platinum for such metals? What is the distinguishing color of mithril and adamantium? Mithril looks like silver and is stronger than steel. Adamantium is described as various colors depending on the source, from jet black to silver. Decide what color these things are in your world, if they exist in your world.

Adamant is a term from the same Greek root for diamond and often referred to diamonds. Marvel comics used it to describe Wolverine’s metal and other metal in the Marvel universe.

Adamantine refers to real minerals.

So whether you worry about the real behavior of real metals, there are some interesting descriptions that can be used in game.