Rhodium

Rhodium does not appear naturally, tending to be found with other platinum group metals. It is a hard, lustrous, silvery coloured metal which is stable in air. Rhodium is inert to all acids but is attacked by fused alkalis. The metal has high thermal and electrical conductivities and is alloyed with platinum to form the positive wire of a Pt/Rh - Pt thermocouple. Other applications of the material include its use as a plating material (to provide a hard and bright surface which is resistant to oxidation), as a catalyst and also as an alloying element, where it improves the hardness of the resulting alloy.

Symbol

Rh

Discovered

1803 by W.H. Woolaston in London.

Abundance

One of the rarest metals on earth with an abundance of 2 x 10^-4 ppm.

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Atomic number	45		Clip
Atomic / Molecular Weight	102.9055	gmol-1	Clip
Density	12420	kgm-3	Clip
Crystal Structure	fcc		Clip
Lattice constant	380	fm	Clip
Melting Point	2236	K	Clip
Boiling Point	3973	K	Clip
Linear expansivity	0.0000082	K-1	Clip
Specific heat capacity	243	Jkg-1K-1	Clip
Thermal conductivity	151	Wm-1K-1	Clip

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See also: Periodic Table, Platinum, Wollaston, William Hyde.