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palladium (Pd)


Term: palladium
Literally meaning: “pertaining to Pallas”
Origin: Anc Greek
Παλλάς/Pallas=goddess Athena o( Greek mythology) >πάλλω/pallo= brandish in reference to the goddess brandishing the spear.  Another theory is that the name was derived by  Παλλάς, a friend of Athena who was accidentally killed by goddess who took her name in order to honour her. It is more probable that Pallas is the same word as pallax (=a virgin, or maiden).

 Coined/History
Palladium was discovered in 1803 by  English chemist William Hyde  Wollaston (1766-1828) and named after the asteroid Pallas discovered the previous year by German astronomer Olbers.  Pallas was the  Greek goddess of wisdom.

Definition
Palladium is a chemical element with atomic number 46 and atomic mass 106.42. Palladium together with phodium, ruthenium, iridium, platinum belongs to the platinum group. It is a soft silver-white metal that resembles platinum. 

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