Tungsten Facts
Tungsten Facts
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| Interesting Tungsten Facts: |
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| Tungsten exists in four different minerals on Earth: wolframite, scheelite, ferberite, and hubnerite. |
| Tungsten is the heaviest of all elements known to play a biological role. |
| There are five naturally occurring isotopes of tungsten that have such long half-lives that they are actually considered to be stable, although they are capable of decay. |
| The remaining isotopes all half-lives of over four quintillion years. |
| There are thirty artificial radioactive isotopes of tungsten. |
| Many of these have half-lives of less than eight minutes. |
| Tungsten is resistant to attack by alkalis, oxygen, and acids. |
| Tungsten often reacts with oxygen to form a yellowish compound, tungsten oxide. |
| Tungsten carbides can also be produced, typically by heated it in its powdered form. |
| Tungsten was instrumental in World War II, but rather for treaty purposes and not for production purposes. |
| At the time, China and Portugal were known to have the largest reserves of tungsten-containing ore, and their alignment with either side could have had far-reaching consequences. |
| Production of tungsten is difficult due to its high melting point. |
| Around 61,000 tons are produced each year, extracted from various ores. |
| Tungsten is not bought and sold as a commodity as other elemental metals like gold, silver, and platinum are. |
| Tungsten carbide is one of the hardest carbides available commercially, so tungsten is often used to create these. |
| Because of its conductive and anti-corrosion properties, tungsten is often used to make electrical wiring. |
| While tungsten plays a biological role in organisms, its rarity has meant that it has not been effectively studied as an environmental hazard or toxin. |
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