Noble metal

Description

Any of several metals or alloys that resistant to oxidation, corrosion and dissolution by acids. Examples of noble metals are gold, iridium, mercury, osmium, platinum and ruthenium. The term 'noble metal' is also used on a comparative basis to refer to the most corrosion resistant metal. In this case, when two metals are in an electrolytic system, the least noble metal will corrode first.

Authority

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998

• Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993

• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 634

• Dictionary of Building Preservation, Ward Bucher, ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York City, 1996