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tantalum

Also known as Ta, element 73, 73Ta

Tantalum is a chemical element; it has symbol Ta and atomic number 73. It is named after Tantalus, a figure in Greek mythology. Tantalum is a very hard, ductile, lustrous, blue-gray transition metal that is highly corrosion-resistant. It is part of the refractory metals group, which are widely used as components of strong high-melting-point alloys. It is a group 5 element, along with vanadium and niobium, and it always occurs in geologic sources together with the chemically similar niobium, mainly in the mineral groups tantalite, columbite, and coltan.

OverviewAI-generated

Tantalum is a chemical element with the symbol Ta and atomic number 73. It has a mass of 180.94788 and an electronegativity of 1.5. The standard electron configuration is [Xe] 4f¹⁴ 5d³ 6s², and it commonly exhibits an oxidation state of 5. Its ionic radius is 0.72.

The element has a density of 16.65 and a thermal conductivity of 54. It melts at 5425 and boils at 9797, with a vapor pressure of 0. Tantalum was discovered in 1802. In terms of safety, the time-weighted average exposure limit is 5, while the short-term exposure limit is 10. It is immediately dangerous to life or health at 2500, with a minimum explosive concentration of 200.

Synthesized by Vinony from 34 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, PubChem, PubMed, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Chemical data

Formula: Ta
Molecular weight: 180.9479 g/mol
IUPAC name: tantalum
SMILES: [Ta]
InChIKey: GUVRBAGPIYLISA-UHFFFAOYSA-N
Polar surface area: 0 Å²
H-bond donors: 0
H-bond acceptors: 0
Formal charge: 0

via PubChem

Research

5,415 papers

Additively Manufactured Tantalum Implants for Repairing Bone Defects: A Systematic Review.Tissue engineering. Part B, Reviews · 2021Qian H, Lei T, Lei P et al.DOI: 10.1089/ten.TEB.2020.0134
3D-printed porous tantalum artificial bone scaffolds: fabrication, properties, and applications.ReviewBiomedical materials (Bristol, England) · 2024Yu H, Xu M, Duan Q et al.DOI: 10.1088/1748-605X/ad46d2
Tantalum and its derivatives in orthopedic and dental implants: Osteogenesis and antibacterial properties.ReviewColloids and surfaces. B, Biointerfaces · 2021Wang X, Ning B, Pei XDOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2021.112055
USE OF TANTALUM CUP IN TOTAL HIP ARTHROPLASTY-A NARRATIVE REVIEW.ReviewGeorgian medical news · 2024Sain A, Ghosh U, Halasa M et al.
Progress in the Application of Porous Tantalum Metal in Hip Joint Surgery.ReviewOrthopaedic surgery · 2024Ma K, Ma Z, Cheng L et al.DOI: 10.1111/os.14255
Porous tantalum in hip and knee reconstructive surgery.ReviewJournal of biomedical materials research. Part B, Applied biomaterials · 2009Patil N, Lee K, Goodman SBDOI: 10.1002/jbm.b.31198
Porous tantalum and tantalum oxide nanoparticles for regenerative medicine.ReviewActa neurobiologiae experimentalis · 2014Mohandas G, Oskolkov N, McMahon MT et al.DOI: 10.55782/ane-2014-1984
From the Performance to the Essence: The Biological Mechanisms of How Tantalum Contributes to Osteogenesis.ReviewBioMed research international · 2020Qian H, Lei T, Ye Z et al.DOI: 10.1155/2020/5162524

via PubMed

~25 min read

Encyclopedic overview

22 sections

Contents

History
Characteristics
Physical properties
Isotopes
Chemical compounds
Oxides, nitrides, carbides, sulfides
Halides
Organotantalum compounds
Occurrence
Status as a conflict resource
Production and fabrication
Electrolysis
Fabrication and metalworking
Applications
Electronics
Alloys
Surgical uses
Other uses
Environmental issues
Precautions
References
External links

The chemical inertness and very high melting point of tantalum make it valuable for laboratory and industrial equipment such as reaction vessels and vacuum furnaces. It is used in tantalum capacitors for electronic equipment such as computers. It is being investigated for use as a material for high-quality superconducting resonators in quantum processors.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “tantalum” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.