Symbol: W
Atomic number: 74
Atomic Weight: 183.86
Melting point: 6,192 F (3,422 C)
Boiling point: 10,030 F (5,555 C)
Facts:
- The symbol W stands for Wolfram. This name came from medieval German smelters (1) who named it after the mineral the element was discovered in, wolframite. (2)
- It is solid at room temperature (1)
- It has the highest melting point and lowest vapor pressure of all metals (1)
- Known as one of the toughest things found in nature and very durable (2)
- When made into a fine powder can be combustible and can spontaneously ignite (2)
- Natural tungsten contains five stable isotopes and 21 other unstable isotopes (2)
- Tungsten's has the highest tensile strength when it is made into a compound. Pure tungsten is very soft (2)
- Some would say the first time that tungsten was used was about 350 years ago in China. Pigments of tungsten was found in porcelain. (2)
- Tungsten can be found in China, South Korea, Bolivia, Great Britain, Russia, Portugal, California, and Colorado (2)
- Tungsten has been found in counterfeit gold bricks. What people would do is cover a brick of tungsten with a coating of gold. Because gold and tungsten have a similar density, when the fake brick was weighed, the weight would almost be correct. (2)
- There is such a thing as tungsten lightbulbs which refers generally to incandescent light bulbs. Tungsten is used as the filament in lightbulbs because to generate light, the filament is heated with electricity until it becomes white hot and glows. Since tungsten has such a hight melting point, this makes for the ideal filament. However, tungsten lightbulbs and other incandescent bulbs are not energy efficient because it creates more heat than it does light. (3)
- Tungsten is alloyed to other metals to strengthen them.
- Metal working, mining, and petroleum industries mix tungsten powder and carbon powder and heat them to 2200 C in order to create cutting and drilling tools. It is even used to create new dental drills (4)
Tungsten! Similar weight as gold-- who knew! I certainly did not. This is really well done.
ReplyDeleteThe layout is clear and the information is organized really intuitively. I had next to zero information in my brain related to Tungsten and now I have hella. Many Thanks Devon.