Write about Palladium atom

     

Palladium is a chemical element with the symbol Pd and atomic number 46.  It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston.  He nambed it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself named after the epithet of the Greek goddess Athena, acquired by her when she slew Pallas.  Palladium, platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium form a group of elements referred to as the platinum group metals(PGMs).  They have similar chemical properties, but palladium has the lowest melting point and is the least dense of them.  

     More than half the supply of palladium and its congener platinum is used in catalytic converters, which convert as much as 90% of the harmful gases in automobile exhaust into less noxious substances.  Palladium is also used in electronics, dentistry, medicine, hydrogen purification, chemical applications, groundwater treatment, and jewelry.  Palladium is a key component of fuel cells, which react hydrogen with oxygen to produce electricity, heat, and water.

     Ore deposits of palladium and other PGMs are rare.  The most extensive deposits have been found in the norite belt of the Bushveld lgneous Complex covering the Transvaal Basin in South Africa, the Stilwater Complex in Montana, United States, the Sudbury Basin and Thunder Bay District of Ontario, Canada, and the Norilsk complex in Russia.