Tungsten

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Granules of tungsten in a glass vial.
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Granules of tungsten in a glass vial.

Tungsten (sometimes named wolfram) is a chemical element. It has the chemical symbol W. It has the atomic number 74. It is a metal. The colour of the metal is steel-gray to white. In chemistry it is placed in a group of metal elements named the transition metals. Tungsten is found in several ores. Two ores which have tungsten in them are wolframite and scheelite.

A piece of wolframite.  It is an ore of tungsten.
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A piece of wolframite. It is an ore of tungsten.

Tungsten has a higher melting point than any other non-alloy that exists. The pure form (only tungsten) is mainly used for electrical uses. Its many compounds and alloys are used for many things. There most well known use id in light bulb filaments. It is also used as the filament and target in most X-ray tubes and also in superalloys.

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