Tungsten is commonly used in the filaments of light bulbs, and is essential to their manufacture. It is also a little known fact that the world's supply of tungsten is estimated to be depleted in the next 20 years. Now, everybody knows that nobody is going to live by the light of fluorescent or halogen lamps, let alone the flickering glow of an led. Whoever controls the tungsten, will control the world! Yes, one day, I will be a tungsten baron, and rule this planet with an iron fist!

Befure tungsten became tungsten, it was called wolfram on the periodic table. They are both the same thing but the Scientific Community led by the USA decided to officially rename it to tungsten. Wolfram comes from the ore wolframite, which coincidentally is also the name of the ore tungsten comes from.


updated: Tue Feb 27 17:21:18 CST 2001

i apologize to bigmouth strikes for assuming that the rest of the world's scientists had standardized on tungsten. rather there is plenty of strife amongst scientists, especially between the United States and Russia regarding the naming of new elements on the scientific table. they have been arguing for 15 years about what to name elements 101 and up... leave it to scientists to be irrational. :)

Tungsten
Symbol: W
Atomic Number: 74
Atomic Weight: 183.84
Boiling Point: 5825 K
Melting Point: 3695 K
Density at 300K: 19.3 g/cm3
Covalent radius: 1.30
Atomic radius: 2.02
Atomic volume: 9.53 cm3/mol
First ionization potental: 7.98 V
Specific heat capacity: 0.13 Jg-1K-1
Thermal conductivity: 174 Wm-1K-1
Electrical conductivity: 18.2*106Ω-1m-1
Heat of fusion: 35.40 kJ/mol
Heat of vaporization: 422.58 kJ/mol
Electronegativity: 2.36 (Pauling's)

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If strength is defined as resistence to pressure at room temperature, then tungsten is the strongest of all metals. It has a tensile resistence of 100,000 to 500,000 pounds per square inch! Tungsten's only weakness is that it breaks once it starts to bend, unlike titanium, which stretches about 55 percent before breaking.

Tung"sten (?) n. [Sw. tungsten (cf. Dan. tungsteen, G. tungstein); tung heavy (akin to Dan. tung, Icel. þungr) + sten stone. See Stone.]

1. Chem.

A rare element of the chromium group found in certain minerals, as wolfram and scheelite, and isolated as a heavy steel-gray metal which is very hard and infusible. It has both acid and basic properties. When alloyed in small quantities with steel, it greatly increases its hardness. Symbol W (Wolframium). Atomic weight, 183.6. Specific gravity, 18.

2 Min.

Scheelite, or calcium tungstate.

[Obs.]

Tungsten ocher, ∨ Tungstic ocher Min., tungstate.

 

© Webster 1913.

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