Tantalum

Tantalum (pronounced /ˈtæntələm/, TAN-təl-əm) (formerly tantalium /tænˈtæliəm/, tan-TAL-ee-əm) is a chemical element with the symbol Ta and atomic number 73. A rare, hard, blue-gray, lustrous transition metal, tantalum is highly corrosion resistant and occurs naturally in the mineral tantalite, always together with the chemically similar niobium. It is part of the refractory metals group, which are widely used as minor component in alloys. The ch... more

Tantalum (pronounced /ˈtæntələm/, TAN-təl-əm) (formerly tantalium /tænˈtæliəm/, tan-TAL-ee-əm) is a chemical element with the symbol Ta and atomic number 73. A rare, hard, blue-gray, lustrous transition metal, tantalum is highly corrosion resistant and occurs naturally in the mineral tantalite, always together with the chemically similar niobium. It is part of the refractory metals group, which are widely used as minor component in alloys. The chemical inertness of tantalum makes it a valuable substance for laboratory equipment and a substitute for platinum, but its main use today is in tantalum capacitors in electronic equipment. Tantalum was discovered in Sweden in 1802 by Anders Ekeberg. One year earlier, Charles Hatchett had discovered the element columbium. In 1809, the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston compared the oxides derived from both columbium—columbite, with a density 5.918 g/cm, and tantalum—tantalite, with a density 7.935 g/cm, and concluded that the two oxides,... less