The Periodic Table of Scarcity and Abundance
Menu

Tungsten

Element 74 · Transition metal

Specimen

Atomic number
74
Atomic mass
183.84
State at room temperature
Solid
Melting point
3,422 °C
Boiling point
5,555 °C
Density
19.3 g/cm³
Discovered
1783

Physical data from PubChem.1

Can I eat it?

In food and water
Not needed, little harm known. Large doses of tungsten compounds caused breathing problems and changes in behavior in some animals. The US health agency ATSDR says people are not likely to meet such amounts. 2

See every element.

The atom

W
ShellElectrons
1 (K) 2
2 (L) 8
3 (M) 18
4 (N) 32
5 (O) 12
6 (P) outermost 2
Total74

Configuration [Xe] 4f¹⁴ 5d⁴ 6s²

4f ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓
5d ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑
6s ↑ ↓
A shell diagram: each ring is an electron shell and each dot is one electron. The nucleus holds 74 protons. The outermost shell is shown in red. Electrons do not travel on rings: they fill orbitals, regions where an electron is likely to be found. The boxes are those orbitals for the electrons outside the Xe core, with one arrow per electron.

Related elements

Group 6
Cr Chromium Mo Molybdenum Sg Seaborgium

New elements by e-mail

Sources

  1. 1

    National Center for Biotechnology Information (PubChem), 2026. Periodic Table of Elements .

    Atomic mass, electron configuration, melting and boiling points, density and discovery year for all 118 elements.

  2. 2

    Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), 2005. Tungsten | ToxFAQs .

    • Tungsten compounds have caused breathing problems and changed behavior in some animals given large amounts of tungsten compounds.
    • you are not likely to be exposed to amounts of tungsten in the air you breathe or the food or water you take into your body that would be large enough to cause similar effects