Period 6 element 1783. Its important ores include wolframite and scheelite. The free element is remarkable for its robustness, especially the fact that it has the highest melting point of all the non-alloyed metals and the second highest of all the elements after carbon. Also remarkable is its high density of 19.3 times that of water, comparable to that of uranium and gold, and much higher (about 1.7 times) than that of lead. Tungsten with minor amounts of impurities is often brittle and hard, making it difficult to work. However, very pure tungsten, though still hard, is more ductile, and can be cut
Melting-point depression to its cohesive energy, a (T=Ca). Since atoms near the surface have fewer bonds and reduced cohesive energy, they require less energy to free from the solid phase. Melting point depression of high surface to volume ratio materials results from this effect. For the same reason, surfaces of bulk materials can melt at lower temperatures than the bulk material. The theoretical size-dependent melting point of a material can be calculated through classical thermodynamic analysis. The result is the Gibbs–Thomson equation shown in Equation 2. formula_2 Where: T = Bulk Melting temperature A normalized Gibbs–Thomson Equation for gold nanoparticles is plotted