Tantalum information, including Technical Data, Safety Data and its high purity properties, research, applications and other useful facts are discussed below. Scientific facts such as the atomic structure, ionization energy, abundance on Earth, conductivity and thermal properties are included.
 Tantalum has a number of interesting properties that make it particularly useful in electronic applications. Tantalum is available as metal and compounds with purities from 99% to 99.999% (ACS grade to ultra-high purity); metals in the form of foil, sputtering target, and rod, and compounds as submicron and nanopowder. It has the third highest melting point, surpassed only by rhenium and tungsten, yet it is highly conductive to heat and electricity. This has made it the material of choice for electronic capacitors for most telecommunications and hand held electronics equipment, such as cell phones, laptop computers and pagers. Tantalum compounds, such as the oxide and chloride, are the basis for di-electric coatings. Tantalum is added to glass for its high refractive index. It has various applications in nuclear energy.
Oxides are available in forms including powders and dense pellets for such uses  as optical coating and thin film applications. Oxides tend to be insoluble. Fluorides are another insoluble form for uses in which oxygen is undesirable such as metallurgy, chemical and physical vapor deposition and in some optical coatings. Tantalum is available in soluble forms including chlorides, nitrates and acetates. These compounds are also manufactured as solutions at specified stoichiometries.
Tantalum is a Block D, Group 5, Period 6 element. The number of electrons in each of Tantalum's shells is 2, 8, 18, 32, 11, 2 and its electronic configuration is [Xe] 4f14 5d3 6s2. In its elemental form tantalum's CAS number is 7440-25-7. The tantalum atom has a radius of 143.pm and it's Van der Waals radius is 200.pm. Tantalum is not toxic.  All elemental metals, compounds and solutions may be synthesized in ultra high purity (e.g. 99.999%) for laboratory standards, advanced electronic, thin fillm deposition using sputtering targets and evaporation materials, metallurgy and optical materials and other high technology applications. Information is provided for stable (non-radioactive) isotopes. Organo-Metallic Tantalum compounds are soluble in organic or non-aqueous solvents. See Analytical Services for information on available certified chemical and physical analysis techniques including MS-ICP, X-Ray Diffraction, PSD and Surface Area (BET) analysis.
Tantalum was first discovered by Anders Ekeberg in 1802. Due to the close relation of tantalum to niobium in the periodic table, Tantalum's name originates from the Greek word Tantalos meaning Father of Niobe in Greek mythology.
Abundance. The following table shows the abundance of tantalum and each of its naturally occurring isotopes on Earth along with the atomic mass for each isotope.
The following table shows the abundance of Tantalum present in the human body and in the universe scaled to parts per billion (ppb) by weight and by atom:
Safety Data and Biological Role. The safety data for tantalum metal, nanoparticles and its compounds can vary widely depending on the form. For potential hazard information, toxicity, and road, sea and air transportation limitations, such as DOT Hazard Class, DOT Number, EU Number, NFPA Health rating and RTECS Class, please see the specific material or compound referenced in the left margin. Tantalum compounds have no biological role. Ionization Energy. The ionization energy for tantalum (the least required energy to release a single electron from the atom in it's ground state in the gas phase) is stated in the following table:
Conductivity. As to tantalum's electrical and thermal conductivity, the electrical conductivity measured as to electrical resistivity @ 20 ºC is 13.15 μΩcm and its electronegativities (or its ability to draw electrons relative to other elements) is 1.5. The thermal conductivity of tantalum is 57.5 W m-1 K-1. Thermal Properties. The melting point and boiling point for tantalum are stated below. The following chart sets forth the heat of fusion, heat of vaporization and heat of atomization.
Recent Research & Development for Tantalum |
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| Formula | Atomic Number | Molecular Weight | Electronegativity (Pauling) | Density | Melting Point | Boiling Point | Vanderwaals radius | Ionic radius | Energy of first ionization |
| Ta | 73 | 180.95 g.mol -1 | 1.5 | 16.69 g.cm-3 at 20 °C | 2850 °C | 6000 °C | 200.pm | 0.070 nm (+5) | 728.43 kJ.mol-1 |
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