a hard corrosion-resistant silvery-white element of the platinum metal group, occurring free with other platinum metals in alluvial deposits and in nickel ores. It is used as an alloying agent to harden platinum and palladium. Symbol: Rh; atomic no: 45; atomic wt: 102.90550; valency: 2–6; relative density: 12.41; melting pt: 1963±3°C; boiling pt: 3697±100°C
Word origin
C19: New Latin, from Greek rhodon rose, from the pink colour of its compounds
rhodium in American English
(ˈroʊdiəm)
noun
a hard, gray-white metallic chemical element, one of the platinum metals, used in alloys with platinum and gold in thermocouples and as an electrical contact material, and in unalloyed form to electroplate optical instruments, silverware, jewelry, etc.: symbol, Rh; at. no., 45
Word origin
ModL: so named (1804) by its discoverer, W. H. Wollaston (see wollastonite) < Gr rhodon, rose, after the color of a dilute solution of its salts + -ium