ElementsWhat is palladium?
Palladium is a silvery-white metal of the platinum group. It can soak up a large volume of hydrogen gas.
What is palladium used for?
Catalytic converters for petrol cars, electronics, dental alloys, and jewellery.
Where the name comes from
From the asteroid Pallas, which had been discovered shortly before the element.
Key facts
- Symbol
- Pd
- Atomic number
- 46
- Atomic mass
- 106.42 u
- Family
- Transition metal
- Period
- 5
- Group
- 10
- Block
- d
- State at room temperature
- Solid
- Melting point
- 1,555 °C (1,828 K, 2,831 °F)
- Boiling point
- 2,963 °C (3,236 K, 5,365 °F)
- Density
- 12 g/cm³
- Electrons per shell
- 2, 8, 18, 18
- Electron configuration
- [Kr]4d10
- Common oxidation states
- +3, +2
- Electronegativity (Pauling)
- 2.2
- First ionisation energy
- 8.337 eV
- Electron affinity
- 0.557 eV
- Atomic radius (van der Waals)
- 202 pm
- Discovered
- 1803
Place in the periodic table
Palladium is element number 46. It sits in period 5 (row 5) of the periodic table, in group 10 (column 10), and belongs to the d-block. Just before it comes rhodium (45), and just after it comes silver (47). In the same column, nickel is above it and platinum is below it. Elements in one column tend to behave alike.
Family: Transition metals.
Physical properties
At room temperature palladium is a solid. It melts at 1,555 °C and boils at 2,963 °C, so it stays liquid over a range of 1,408 degrees. Its density is 12 grams per cubic centimetre, so a one-litre block would weigh about 12 kilograms. By density it ranks 19th among the 96 elements with a measured value.
Inside the atom
An atom of palladium has 46 protons in its nucleus and, when neutral, 46 electrons around it. The electrons are arranged in 4 shells: 2, 8, 18, 18. The outermost shell holds 18 electrons. Written in full, the electron configuration is [Kr]4d10.
Its electronegativity on the Pauling scale is 2.2. This number shows how strongly an atom pulls shared electrons towards itself: fluorine, the strongest, is 3.98. Removing one electron from an atom takes 8.337 electronvolts (about 804 kilojoules per mole). One mole of palladium weighs 106.42 grams, so a single gram contains about 5.66 × 1021 atoms.
The ring picture is a simple model that only counts the electrons in each shell. Real atoms do not look like this.
Next steps
- Work out the weight of a compound that contains palladium with the molar mass calculator.
- Compare it with every other element in the sortable list.
- Test yourself with the symbol quiz.
Figures on this page are from PubChem (U.S. National Library of Medicine), as downloaded on 11 November 2026. See About and data sources.