Ta

Tantalum · element 73

Transition Metal · Solid at room temperature

Tantalum is a chemical element with symbol Ta and atomic number 73. Previously known as tantalium, its name comes from Tantalus, an antihero from Greek mythology. Tantalum is a rare, hard, blue-gray, lustrous transition metal that is highly corrosion-resistant.

  See Tantalum as a bubble   Play the Pop Quiz
Piece of tantalum, 1 cm in size
Piece of tantalum, 1 cm in size - Jurii, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, source: https://images-of-elements.com/tantalum.php

Key facts

Atomic mass
180.947882 u
how heavy one atom is
Phase (room temp.)
Solid
Density
16.69 g/cm³
how tightly packed it is
Melting point
3290 K (3017 °C)
when solid turns to liquid
Boiling point
5731 K (5458 °C)
when liquid turns to gas
Period
6
its row in the periodic table
Group
5
its column in the periodic table
Block
D-block
the neighbourhood it lives in
Electronegativity
1.5
how strongly it pulls electrons
Electron configuration
[Xe] 4f14 5d3 6s2
where its electrons live
Shells
2 · 8 · 18 · 32 · 11 · 2
electrons in each layer, inside to out
Discovered by
Anders Gustaf Ekeberg
who found it
Appearance
gray blue
what it looks like

Source: Wikipedia

← HafniumTungsten →

Privacy