Tanners' and Chemists' Handbook #249711

The caustic alkalies, the alkaline earths, nitrates and cyanides, and especially the hydrates of barium and lithium, attack platinum at a red heat, although the alkaline carbonates have no effect. At the highest temperatures. Sulphur, in the absence of alkalies, has no action, but phosphorus and arsenic attack platinum when heated with it. Direct contact of platinum with burning charcoal should be avoided, since the silicon reduced from the charcoal ash unites with platinum, making it brittle and liable to_ fracture.