‘Dr. Stone’: Why Is Senku Looking for the Platinum?

The third season of Dr. Stone has just ended, but as we found out, it ended on a cliffhanger, as the season will receive a second part that will continue the story. As we’ve assumed, this was an exceptionally intriguing and insightful arc, but more excitement is to come. Now, we know the general plot outline for the final episode of the season, but there are more questions than answers in the first part’s cliffhanger ending, and we wanted to help you understand what is happening by explaining the importance of the platinum that Senku is looking for. In this article, you are going find out why platinum is so relevant and what it is going to be used for.

Senku is looking for the platinum inside the Soyuz because it is an essential part of his plan to create more Revival Fluid. Namely, platinum was extremely rare (as it is even today), and it was actually essential in Senku’s plan, as he would need platinum to synthesize more nitric acid, and nitric acid was an essential ingredient in creating the Revival Fluid. This is why Senku and his allies wanted to find the platinum and why it was so important for both them and the plot of the series.

The rest of this article will focus on the cliffhanger ending of the first part of Season 3 of Dr. Stone. We’re going to expand on the main answer we have provided to you above and tell you what you need to know abut the platinum, about the nitric acid, and how it all ties into Senku creating more Revival Fluid. This was an important moment in the arc, and we think you should know what happened, but we also have to warn you that the article will contain a lot of spoilers, so you should be careful how you approach it.

The platinum was essential for creating more Revival Fluid, although not directly

If you’ve followed the story of Dr. Stone up to the ending of the first part of Season 3, you’ll know that the story ended on a cliffhanger. Sure, those who’ve read the manga will know what happened, but anime-only fans were probably excited and angry when the series ended in such a way, especially because we still don’t know when the second part of the season is going to premiere. It will probably be soon, but we still don’t have an official date, so it’s a bummer.

Allows us a quick recap before we continue:

Kohaku explores the enemy’s base while receiving orders from Senku with a scientific spy item, an earring-type income. Senku is also preparing a new scientific item for an aerial battle with his leaders when he receives a coded message from an infiltrating spy team. Kohaku, who is infiltrating the enemy’s base, discovers a treasure chest called Soyuz where the super rare item “Platinum” sleeps! However, the platinum is covered with a thick block of concrete that cannot be easily removed. Senku collaborates with Kohaku to take on a treasure chest opening mission to steal platinum without being noticed by the enemy! Will it be possible for Hyakuya, who once spent her entire life on this island, to obtain the precious treasure she left behind for Senku…!?

Source: Dr. Stone Wiki

This is the official synopsis for Episodes 45 and 46 of the anime, which gives you a rough outline of where the plot is at this moment. As you can see, Senku has found the Soyuz and has found out that there might be platinum inside it. At that point, he immediately decided to break the concrete hidden by the Soyuz because platinum was an exceptionally important ingredient for Senku creating more Revival Fluid.

Using his knowledge of chemistry, he managed to destroy the concrete barrier and actually saw the Soyuz. And while he hoped for more, he found very little platinum inside it, but it would be enough for a start. He would then take it with him and use it to make more Revival Fluid, which shows just how and why the platinum was so important. But what is the procedure behind it? Why platinum, exactly?

In chemistry, there is a process known as the Ostwald procedure, which uses ammonia and platinum to synthesize nitric acid. The process goes roughly like this:

Nitric acid is produced in two stages. In the first stage, you heat with oxygen using a catalyst such as platinum with 10% rhodium, platinum metal on fused silica wool, copper, or nickel, to create nitric oxide (nitrogen(II) oxide) and water (as steam), which is basically oxidization. In stage two, there are two steps you have to do. First, the nitric oxide is oxidized again to produce nitrogen dioxide (nitrogen(IV) oxide).

The water then readily absorbs this gas, creating the desired product (nitric acid, albeit in a dilute form) while reducing a portion of it back to nitric oxide. You then use the diluted form and distill it until you get proper nitric acid.

Okay, now that we’ve almost put you to sleep, we can tell you that this is the actual chemistry behind the process used by Senku. And you can now see why the platinum was such an important ingredient and why Senku needed to get his hands on some platinum to make the experiment work. But what did he need the nitric acid for?

Well, the second part of the season will reveal that, but here, we can state this: Revival Fluid is a special concoction that consists of nitric acid and alcohol. It is made by mixing nitric acid with as close to pure alcohol (96%) as possible. The ratio is 30% nitric acid to 70% alcohol, and only when this perfect ratio is achieved is the Revival Fluid going to work. You can now imagine why both the platinum and the nitric acid are important to Senku, especially in light of their mission to reassemble Ryusui’s body.