Tungsten has the highest melting point among metals and is used in demanding high-temperature equipment. Combining it with carbon produces very hard tungsten carbide for cutting and drilling. An incandescent filament and a cutting tool therefore illustrate distinct materials built around the same element.
FROM ELEMENT TO APPLICATION
AN ELEMENT IN CONTEXT
Why does a cemented tungsten carbide tool need both hard grains and a binder?
Cemented tungsten carbide composite
FOLLOW THIS RELATIONSHIP
Identify the hard constituent
Tungsten carbide grains supply a hard compound phase. Their properties differ from elemental tungsten metal and contribute to resisting cutting and wear demands.
Explore the model (optional)
WFORM → INTERACTION → CONSEQUENCE
Follow the explanation in either direction. These are authored steps, not a physical clock.
Optional: check your understanding
USE THE EXPLANATION
Which description best preserves the tool material’s construction?
Chemists investigated tungsten-bearing before the metal itself was obtained. Carl Wilhelm Scheele prepared an acidic in 1781, and Juan José and Fausto Elhuyar an oxide to metal in 1783. The alternative name wolfram explains the symbol W. This history connects mineral naming to chemical evidence while distinguishing a compound that reveals an unfamiliar element from the later preparation of its metallic form.
1781
Oxide investigated
Scheele isolated an oxide associated with the new metal.
Scheelite and wolframite are important tungsten minerals. Their formulas and mineral structures determine how tungsten is separated and converted into useful products. A carbide cutting tool, addition, and metallic filament can start from related resources while requiring different chemical forms and manufacturing methods.
Tungsten is a refractory metal suited to high-temperature applications, but many cutting tools instead rely on tungsten carbide. The carbide's hardness belongs to a compound and often to a composite containing a binder. Temperature tolerance, hardness, and toughness are different properties, so one superlative cannot explain every tungsten application.
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
3695 K
at standard pressure unless noted
Boiling point in K
5828 K
101.325 kPa
Density in g/cm³
19.25 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
2.36 Pauling
Pauling scale
First ionization energy in kJ/mol
770 kJ/mol
gas-phase neutral atom, ground state
Covalent radius in pm
162 pm
single-bond covalent radius
Common oxidation states
+4, +6
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
1.25 mg/kg
upper continental crust, mass fraction
Has stable isotopes
Yesderived
Discovery year in CE
1783 CEderived
WHERE IT SITS AMONG ITS NEIGHBORS
Electronegativity across period 6
W 2.36 Pauling · Tungsten
Electronegativity across period 6. Exact values.
Cs
0.79
Ba
0.89
La
1.1
Ce
1.12
Pr
1.13
Nd
1.14
Sm
1.17
Eu
1.2
Gd
1.2
Tb
1.1
Dy
1.22
Ho
1.23
Er
1.24
Tm
1.25
Yb
1.1
Lu
1.27
Hf
1.3
Ta
1.5
W
2.36
Re
1.9
Os
2.2
Ir
2.2
Pt
2.28
Au
2.54
Hg
2
Tl
1.62
Pb
2.33
Bi
2.02
Po
2
At
2.2
Electronegativity down group 6
W 2.36 Pauling · Tungsten
Electronegativity down group 6. Exact values.
Cr
1.66
Mo
2.16
W
2.36
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.
