To sponsor this element yourself, please contact Michelle Saxton, Dept. Palladium is a steel-white metal, does not tarnish in air, and is the least dense and lowest melting of the platinum group of metals. When palladium is annealed, it is soft and ductile, and cold working greatly increases its strength and hardness. Palladium has the unusual property of absorbing 900 times its own volume of hydrogen gas at room temperature, but hydrogen readily diffuses through heated palladium, providing a means of purifying the gas. Finely divided palladium is a good catalyst, used for hydrogenation and dehydrogenation reactions.
Palladium is used as an alloy in jewelry, mostly in the production of white gold.
Palladium metal is also used in dentistry, watchmaking, and in making surgical instruments and electrical contacts.