Use for Platinum & Palladium: Catalytic Converter Close up Picture

We know a use for palladium is in catalytic converters in cars. Platinum and rhodium are present also. But when looking for catalytic converter picture, I always come up with something...ordinary. Example:


Now sure, that's a good sketch of how palladium, platinum, and rhodium catalytic converters work, but we want to hear and see more of the precious metals! The best photo I found of the honeycomb has been this:

Then just today, I found an even better closeup:


However, today I was only looking for that closeup for one reason: because I have my own palladium catalytic converter pieces in hand! It's a funny story, actually. I stopped to visit my dad and ended up doing some cleaning for him. I decided it was time to empty out the shop vac and guess what I found? Pieces of his old catalytic converter that he tore out. I took a closeup shot of it


You can see that the honeycomb walls are paper-thin. You don't see anything resembling palladium at all, let alone any metals. These are really brittle and will shatter to dust if you apply any pressure. And they are really lightweight too. Have you ever bought stonewashed jeans and found the stone in the pocket? That's what these remind me of, only cooler!

That's all for this, I just thought I'd post a few pictures to show the use for palladium that we've all been buying!