 Hydrogen is highly soluble in many rare earth and transition metals and is soluble in both nanocrystalline and amorphous metals . Hydrogen solubility in metals is influenced by local distortions or impurities in the crystal lattice . These properties may be useful when hydrogen is purified by passage through hot palladium disks , but the gas 's high solubility is a metallurgical problem , contributing to the embrittlement of many metals , complicating the design of pipelines and storage tanks . 
