Tungsten Chemistry)

Tungsten was discovered by Juan Jose and Fausto Elhuyar, Spanish chemists, in 1783.

THE CHEMICAL SYMBOL (W)--- WOLFRAM The name Wolfram comes from the mineral wolframite, in which it was discovered.

THE TOTAL ELECTRON CONFIGURATION 1s 2 2s 2 2p 6 3s 2 3p 6 4s 2 3d 10 4p 6 5s 2 4d 10 5p 6 6s 2

4f 14 5d 4

USES Tungsten is a metal used to make filaments for incandescent light bulbs, fluorescent light bulbs and television tubes. Also is used as a target for X-ray production, as heating elements in electric furnaces and for parts of spacecraft and missiles which must withstand high temperatures.

PERIODIC PROPERTIES Atomic radius: 139 pm 1st ionization energy: 770 kJ/mole 2nd ionization energy: kJ/mole 3rd ionization energy: kJ/mole Electron affinity: 78.6 kJ/mole Electronegativity: 2.36

ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF TUNGSTEN Tungsten is very important because if it doesn’t exist we can’t make the filaments for incandescent light bulbs or television tubes, or another thing. Also Tungsten is used for Jewelry.

A STORY One day, a jeweler called Nick, wanted to make a Tungsten carbide ring because these types of rings are beautiful and very expensive. Then he went to a Tungsten mine and requested one kilogram of Tungsten. After that, he returned to his jewelry store and began to make the ring with a group of jewelers. During the work, they had some problems because Tungsten wasn’t melting easily, and for this reason they taken one day. The next day, they finished the work and published the Tungsten carbide ring in “Mercado libre”. Three days later of this publication, a rich person wanted to buy the ring and they sold it with a price of 200 dollars.