← Periodic table · Transition metals
Tungsten (W)
Tungsten (symbol W) is the chemical element with atomic number 74: a transition metal, solid at 0 °C, with an atomic mass of 183.84 u. Discovered in 1783 (Juan José and Fausto Elhuyar).
Tungsten melts at 3,422 °C, the all-time record among metals. Almost as dense as gold, it lit the world for a century as light-bulb filaments. Its carbide, extraordinarily hard, equips cutting tools and drill bits.
Key facts
- Atomic number
- 74
- Symbol
- W
- French name
- Tungstène
- Atomic mass
- 183.84 u
- Molar mass
- 183.84 g/mol
- Family
- Transition metals
- Position
- period 6, group 6, d-block
- State at 0 °C
- Solid
- Melting point
- 3,421.9 °C
- Boiling point
- 5,929.9 °C
- Density
- 19.25 g/cm³
- Electronegativity (Pauling)
- 2.36
- First ionization energy
- 759 kJ/mol
- Atomic radius
- 135 pm
- Electron configuration
- [Xe] 4f¹⁴ 5d⁴ 6s²
- Abundance in Earth's crust
- 1.25 ppm (57th most abundant element)
- Indicative price
- 35 $/kg (order of magnitude)
- Radioactive
- no
- Discovery
- 1783, Juan José and Fausto Elhuyar
Origin of the name
From the Swedish tung sten, “heavy stone”; the symbol W comes from wolfram.
What does tungsten look like?
A very dense (19.3 g/cm³), hard, steel-gray metal. When pure it is surprisingly ductile; when impure, brittle.
Where is tungsten found?
About 1 ppm of Earth's crust. It is extracted mainly from wolframite and scheelite.
Natural sources
- Wolframite
- Scheelite
- Ferberite
- Hübnerite
How is tungsten produced?
The ore is converted into ammonium paratungstate and then into oxide, which hydrogen reduces to tungsten powder. The powder is pressed and sintered (heated without melting), because the metal is too hard to melt.
Top producers
- China
- Vietnam
- Russia
- Bolivia
What is tungsten used for?
- Tungsten carbide for cutting tools, drill bits and ballpoint-pen tips.
- Incandescent bulb filaments and TIG welding electrodes.
- Counterweights and the weights in phone vibration motors.
- X-ray shielding and armor-piercing projectiles.
- Competition darts.
In everyday life
- A masonry drill bit
- An incandescent light bulb
- The ball of a ballpoint pen
- Darts
- A phone's vibration motor
Role in living things
It is the heaviest element known to play a biological role: some bacteria and archaea in hydrothermal vents use it in enzymes.
Hazards of tungsten
Mildly toxic. Tungsten carbide-cobalt dust can cause lung disease in workers.
Cosmic origin
- Dying stars: Made slowly in red giants (stars like the Sun at the end of their lives).
- Neutron stars: Created when two neutron stars collide — the “forge” of gold.
History of tungsten
The Swede Carl Wilhelm Scheele identified tungstic acid in 1781. In 1783 the Spanish brothers Juan José and Fausto Elhuyar isolated the metal from wolframite. Its name comes from the Swedish tung sten, “heavy stone”; its symbol W comes from “wolfram,” because the ore “devoured” tin like a wolf during smelting.
Did you know?
- Since its density is almost identical to gold's, fake gold-plated bars with tungsten cores have been discovered.
- An incandescent bulb filament runs at around 2,500 °C, a temperature almost no other metal could withstand.
- The OSRAM brand comes from OSmium and wolfRAM, two filament metals.
Isotopes of tungsten
Tungsten has four stable isotopes plus a fifth, tungsten-180, which is radioactive with a half-life more than a hundred million times the age of the Universe.
- tungsten-180: 0.12% of natural tungsten, radioactive, half-life 1.8 × 10¹⁸ years
- tungsten-182: 26.5% of natural tungsten, stable
- tungsten-183: 14.31% of natural tungsten, stable
- tungsten-184: 30.64% of natural tungsten, stable
- tungsten-186: 28.43% of natural tungsten, stable
- tungsten-188: radioactive, half-life 69.8 days. Loaded into hospital generators to produce rhenium-188 on demand.
Related elements
Same family (transition metals): Scandium (Sc), Titanium (Ti), Vanadium (V), Chromium (Cr), Manganese (Mn), Iron (Fe), Cobalt (Co), Nickel (Ni), Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Yttrium (Y), Zirconium (Zr), Niobium (Nb), Molybdenum (Mo), Technetium (Tc), Ruthenium (Ru), Rhodium (Rh), Palladium (Pd), Silver (Ag), Cadmium (Cd), Hafnium (Hf), Tantalum (Ta), Rhenium (Re), Osmium (Os), Iridium (Ir), Platinum (Pt), Gold (Au), Mercury (Hg), Rutherfordium (Rf), Dubnium (Db), Seaborgium (Sg), Bohrium (Bh), Hassium (Hs).
Same column (group 6): Chromium (Cr), Molybdenum (Mo), Seaborgium (Sg).