Discovery Information
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Who: William Wollaston |
When: 1803 |
Where: England |
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Name Origin
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Greek: Pallas goddess of wisdom and after the asteroid discovered in 1803. |
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Sources
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Obtained with platinum, nickel, copper and mercury ores. Occurs primarily in Siberia, the Ural Mountains, Ontario Canada and South Africa.
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Uses
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The largest use of palladium today is in catalytic converters. It is also used in alloys for telecommunication equipment switching
systems and electrical relays, catalyst for reforming cracked petroleum fractions, metallizing ceramics, mixed with gold to make "white gold" for jewellery, aircraft sparkplugs, dentistry, surgical instruments.
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Palladium dichloride (PdCl2) can absorb large amounts of carbon monoxide gas and is used in carbon monoxide detectors.
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Notes
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This metal has the uncommon ability to absorb up to 900 times its own volume of hydrogen at room temperatures.
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In 2000, The Ford Motor Company created a price bubble in palladium by stockpiling large amounts of the metal, fearing interrupted
supplies from Russia. As prices fell in early 2001, Ford lost nearly US$1 billion.
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