This element is not currently sponsored. To sponsor this element yourself, please contact Michelle Saxton, Dept. 16.654 Tantalum was discovered by Ekeberg in 1802. Tantalum is a gray, heavy, very hard metal, that is ductile and can be drawn into fine wires. Tantalum is almost completely immune to chemical attack at temperatures below 150 o C, but at higher temperatures it becomes much more reactive.
Tantalum is used to make alloys with high melting poits, high strength, and good ductility.
A tantalum carbide oxide material, produced at the Los Alamos laboratory, is said to be one of the hardest materials ever made. Tantalum is used to make electrolytic capacitors, vacuum furnace parts, to fabricate chemical process equipment, nuclear reactors, and aircraft and missile parts. Tantalum has also found wide use in making surgical appliances, since it is completely immune to body liquids and is a nonirritating metal.