tungsten-history

SYMBOL
W

ATOMIC NUMBER
74

ATOMIC MASS
183.85

FAMILY
Group 6 (VIB)
Transition metal

PRONUNCIATION
TUNG-stun

Credit for the discovery of tungsten is often divided among three men—Spanish scientists Don Fausto D'Elhuyard (1755-1833) and his brother Don Juan Jose D'Elhuyard (1754-96), and Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742-86). Tungsten's chemical symbol, W, is taken from an alternative name for the element, wolfram.

Discovery and naming

The first mention of tungsten and its compounds can be traced to about 1761. German chemist Johann Gottlob Lehmann (1719-67) was studying a mineral known as wolframite. He found two new substances in the mineral but did not recognize that they were new elements.

About twenty years later, Scheele also studied this mineral. He produced from it a white acidic powder. Scheele knew the powder was a new substance. But he could not isolate a pure element from it. Scheele's discovery was actually tungstic acid (H₂WO₄). (See sidebar on Scheele in the chlorine entry in Volume 1.)

Tungsten metal was prepared for the first time in 1783 by the D'Elhuyard brothers. In 1777, they were sent to Sweden to study mineralogy. After their return to Span, the brothers worked together on a number of projects. One project involved an analysis of wolframite. They produced tungstic acid like Scheele but went one step further. They found a way to obtain pure tungsten metal from the acid. For this work, they are generally given credit as the discoverers of tungsten.

The name tungsten is taken from the Swedish phrase that means "heavy stone." In some parts of the world, the element is still called by another name, wolfram. This name comes from the German expression Wolf rahm, or "wolf froth (foam)." The element's chemical symbol is taken from the German name rather than the Swedish name.