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tungsten

Also known as W, element 74, 74W, wolfram

Tungsten (also called wolfram) is a chemical element which has the symbol W (from ) and atomic number 74. It is a metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively in compounds with other elements. It was identified as a distinct element in 1781 and first isolated as a metal in 1783. Its important ores include scheelite and wolframite, the latter lending the element its alternative name.

OverviewAI-generated

Tungsten is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. It was discovered in 1783. The element has a mass of 183.84 and an electronegativity of 2.36. Its chemical formula is W, and it typically exhibits an oxidation state of 6. The canonical SMILES representation for the element is [W].

The substance has a density of 19.3 and a thermal conductivity of 173. It melts at 6170 and boils at 10701. The molar fusion enthalpy is 52.31, while the molar enthalpy of vaporization is 774. The vapor pressure is recorded as 0.

Exposure limits for tungsten include a time-weighted average of 5 and a short-term limit of 10. The NIOSH Pocket Guide ID is 0645. The Unicode character for tungsten is 鎢. It is referenced by 2,165 other encyclopedia articles.

Synthesized by Vinony from 34 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, PubChem, PubMed, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Chemical data

Formula: W
Molecular weight: 183.84 g/mol
IUPAC name: tungsten
SMILES: [W]
InChIKey: WFKWXMTUELFFGS-UHFFFAOYSA-N
Polar surface area: 0 Å²
H-bond donors: 0
H-bond acceptors: 0
Formal charge: 0

via PubChem

Research

17,064 papers

Tungsten-containing enzymes.ReviewBiochemistry. Biokhimiia · 2002L'vov NP, Nosikov AN, Antipov ANDOI: 10.1023/a:1014461913945
Tungsten-Based Nanocatalysts: Research Progress and Future Prospects.ReviewMolecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Ke S, Min X, Liu Y et al.DOI: 10.3390/molecules27154751
Tungsten or Wolfram: Friend or Foe?ReviewCurrent medicinal chemistry · 2018Zoroddu MA, Medici S, Peana M et al.DOI: 10.2174/0929867324666170428105603
Tungsten: an Emerging Toxicant, Alone or in Combination.ReviewCurrent environmental health reports · 2016Bolt AM, Mann KKDOI: 10.1007/s40572-016-0106-z
Emerging activated tungsten dust: Source, environmental behaviors, and health effects.Environment international · 2024Wang Y, Nie B, Zheng S et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2024.108774
Obligately Tungsten-Dependent Enzymes─Catalytic Mechanisms, Models and Applications.ReviewBiochemistry · 2025Szaleniec M, Heider JDOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.5c00116
Tungsten toxicity and carcinogenesis.Advances in pharmacology (San Diego, Calif.) · 2023Bolt AMDOI: 10.1016/bs.apha.2022.10.004
Tungsten toxicity.ReviewChemico-biological interactions · 2012Witten ML, Sheppard PR, Witten BLDOI: 10.1016/j.cbi.2011.12.002

via PubMed

~33 min read

Encyclopedic overview

28 sections

Contents

Characteristics
Physical properties
Isotopes
Chemical properties
History
Etymology
Occurrence
Chemical compounds
Production
Reserves
Extraction
Applications
Industrial
Alloys
Permanent magnets
Military
Chemical applications
Niche uses
Gold substitution
Electronics
Nanowires
Fusion power
Biological role
In archaea
Health factors
See also
References
External links

The free element is remarkable for its robustness, especially the fact that it has the highest melting point of all known elements, at . It also has the highest boiling point, at . Its density is 19.254 g/cm3, comparable with that of uranium and gold, and much higher (about 1.7 times) than that of lead. Polycrystalline tungsten is an intrinsically brittle and hard material (under standard conditions, when uncombined), making it difficult to work into metal. However, pure single-crystalline tungsten is more ductile and can be cut with a hard-steel hacksaw.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “tungsten” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.