Tantalum

In 1802, Swedish chemist Anders Ekeberg discovered element 73, but he didn't get credit for this during his lifetime. Other researchers questioned the discovery and thought that the “new” element was the already-discovered element columbium (now known as niobium).

Forty years later, in 1846, German chemist Heinrich Rose concluded that Ekeberg had discovered a new element. But it would be another twenty years before the differences between tantalum and niobium were definitively confirmed by Christian Wilhelm Blomstrand, Henri Etienne Saint-Claire Deville, and Louis J. Troost.

In what may be the ultimate irony, Ekeberg named element 73 after Tantalus of Greek mythology. According to legend, Tantalus was punished by the gods to stand in a pool whose waters would forever recede when he tried to drink, beneath a fruit tree whose branches would forever be out of reach. Ekeberg probably felt a little like Tantalus when he tried to prove his discovery to other scientists.

Tantalum is a blue grey, heavy, and very hard metal. It is ductile, meaning it can stretch without breaking. At low temperatures, it’s resistant to acids and corrosion. At higher temperatures, tantalum becomes more and more likely to react with other substances.

Tantalum has many uses. Because it isn’t irritating to bodily tissues, it’s often used for medical implants and surgical tools. It’s also used in electronic components for cell phones, computers, cars, and cameras. In particular, tantalum is often used in capacitors, which store electrical charge and control the flow of current in electronic devices.

Tantalum alloys can be strong and have high melting points, which makes them useful for things like rocket nozzles or in nuclear reactors, both of which can get quite hot!

Tantalum pentoxide is used in electronics. Tantalum carbides are hard and brittle, which makes them useful in tool bits. Tantalum oxide can be used to make special kinds of glass that can be turned into camera lenses.

In nature, tantalum can be found in two stable (non-radioactive) isotopes: tantalum-180 and -181.

In nature, tantalum is relatively rare. It’s found mainly in the mineral columbite-tantalite, also known as coltan, which often contains niobium, too. You can find tantalum ores in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Mozambique. In Malaysia and Thailand, tantalum is produced as a byproduct of tin mining and smelting.