Titanium is a strong, relatively light metal valued for resistance to corrosion. Its alloys serve in aircraft and marine equipment, while titanium dioxide is a bright white pigment used in paint and other materials. The metal and its oxide therefore solve very different engineering problems.
FROM ELEMENT TO APPLICATION
AN ELEMENT IN CONTEXT
What makes a titanium alloy a plausible aircraft material rather than an automatic choice?
Titanium-based alloys
FOLLOW THIS RELATIONSHIP
Define the aircraft duty
An aircraft component must carry particular loads while meeting mass, temperature, and environmental requirements; different locations impose different combinations of constraints.
Explore the model (optional)
TiFORM → INTERACTION → CONSEQUENCE
Follow the explanation in either direction. These are authored steps, not a physical clock.
Atomic identity, reference properties and structure models
INTERACTIVE 3D22 visible sites
An electron censusDrag to rotate · scroll or pinch to zoom
[Ar] 3d2 4s2. Grouping electrons by principal shell connects the neutral-atom configuration to periodic-table patterns.
What this representation means
A three-dimensional counting diagram. Dots are count markers, not measured electron positions; spherical placement and spacing are arbitrary. There are no electron trajectories here. Orbitals describe quantum states.
William Gregor analyzed a dark Cornish in 1791 and recognized evidence for an unknown metal. Klaproth independently investigated a titanium-bearing mineral in 1795 and gave the element its name. Identifying the proved much easier than preparing pure metal: that milestone came with Matthew Hunter's work in 1910. Titanium's history therefore runs from mineral analysis to the difficult control of reactive-metal production.
1791
Unknown constituent recognized
Gregor identified an unfamiliar metallic constituent in a Cornish mineral.
1910
Pure metal prepared
Hunter obtained titanium metal of high purity after earlier mineral-based identification.
Titanium occurs in minerals including rutile, ilmenite, and sphene, and in many igneous rocks and sediments derived from them. Titanium compounds also occur beyond Earth, including in meteorites and lunar rocks. These settings contain the element mainly within mineral structures, rather than as manufactured metallic titanium components.
Titanium combines relatively low density with useful strength and resistance. Its metal can adopt different structures as conditions change. Titanium dioxide has different optical properties from the metal, including strong light-bending behavior, illustrating why structural-metal uses and white-pigment uses belong to different material forms.
Each section links its supporting references. Descriptions and diagrams were authored for this atlas. Source checks completed. Source checks dated 2026-09-06.
CITE THIS PAGE
Family labels and the group-3 layout are teaching conventions. A table position does not establish an unknown bulk property. Electronic configurations refer to neutral atoms; ions and material environments require their own account.
Read each reference property together with its units, conditions and the reference information below.
Not yet recorded: electron affinity, second ionization energy, ground-state term symbol, van der waals radius, thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, electrical resistivity, crystal structure, lattice parameter a, space group, abundance in seawater, abundance in the universe, annual production, supply-risk listing, hazard classification, biological role, cas registry number, pubchem cid, wikidata item. These families are declared and awaiting an ingestion run against the source each names; they are listed here rather than shown as empty rows.
Physical
Intended reference: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics · CRC Press
Phase at 20 °C
solid
293.15 K, 101.325 kPa
Melting point in K
1941 K
at standard pressure unless noted
Boiling point in K
3560 K
101.325 kPa
Density in g/cm³
4.51 g/cm³
solids and liquids at 293 K; gases at 273 K and 101.325 kPa
Atomic and electronic
Intended reference: Pauling electronegativity scale · Widely tabulated; original in The Nature of the Chemical Bond
Electronegativity in Pauling
1.54 Pauling
Pauling scale
First ionization energy in kJ/mol
658.8 kJ/mol
gas-phase neutral atom, ground state
Covalent radius in pm
160 pm
single-bond covalent radius
Common oxidation states
+3, +4
states met in ordinary compounds; not exhaustive
Occurrence and identity
Intended reference: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics · CRC Press
Abundance in the crust in mg/kg
5650 mg/kg
upper continental crust, mass fraction
Has stable isotopes
Yesderived
Discovery year in CE
1791 CEderived
WHERE IT SITS AMONG ITS NEIGHBORS
Electronegativity across period 4
Ti 1.54 Pauling · Titanium
Electronegativity across period 4. Exact values.
K
0.82
Ca
1
Sc
1.36
Ti
1.54
V
1.63
Cr
1.66
Mn
1.55
Fe
1.83
Co
1.88
Ni
1.91
Cu
1.9
Zn
1.65
Ga
1.81
Ge
2.01
As
2.18
Se
2.55
Br
2.96
Kr
3
Electronegativity down group 4
Ti 1.54 Pauling · Titanium
Electronegativity down group 4. Exact values.
Ti
1.54
Zr
1.33
Hf
1.3
The trend uses the same reference-property values as the periodic table. Elements with no recorded value are left out of the line rather than drawn at zero.
