tantalum
[tan-tl-uh m]
- a gray, hard, rare, metallic element occurring in columbite and tantalite and usually associated with niobium: used, because of its resistance to corrosion by most acids, for chemical, dental, and surgical instruments and apparatus. Symbol: Ta; atomic weight: 180.948; atomic number: 73; specific gravity: 16.6.
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Origin of tantalum
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for tantalum
Contemporary Examples
The raw materials— tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold—were dubbed “conflict minerals.”
In China, for example, tungsten, tantalum, tin and gold are mined and ore is imported from other countries.
Tantalum helps you send text messages, tin is the solder on every circuit board and gold is the little connecting piece.
Tungsten, tantalum, tin and gold are used to produce many common consumer electronics devices.
Tantalum is used to protect interconnects inside microprocessors.
Historical Examples
Just to make sure of cleaning up the last infinitesimal traces, though, I'm going to flash a getter charge of tantalum in it.
Skylark ThreeEdward Elmer Smith
A century elapsed after its discovery before von Bolton produced the first tantalum filament lamp.
Artificial LightM. Luckiesh
The tantalum lamp had no opportunity to become established, because the tungsten lamp followed its appearance very closely.
Artificial LightM. Luckiesh
If the first figure of the last pair was assumed to be a null, the word was the symbol for tantalum: "Ta."
The Caves of FearJohn Blaine
The oxide of tantalum dissolves in the bead, but gives no colour.
A Textbook of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines.Cornelius Beringer and John Jacob Beringer
tantalum
- a hard greyish-white metallic element that occurs with niobium in tantalite and columbite: used in electrical capacitors in most circuit boards and in alloys to increase hardness and chemical resistance, esp in surgical instruments. Symbol: Ta; atomic no: 73; atomic wt: 180.9479; valency: 2, 3, 4, or 5; relative density: 16.654; melting pt: 3020°C; boiling pt: 5458±100°C
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Word Origin
C19: named after Tantalus, with reference to the metal's incapacity to absorb acids
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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tantalum
(tăn′tə-ləm)- A hard heavy metallic element that is exceptionally resistant to chemical attack below 150°C and is used to make electronic components and surgical instruments. Atomic number 73.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
tantalum
[tăn′tə-ləm]
- A hard, heavy, gray metallic element that is highly resistant to corrosion at low temperatures. It is used to make light-bulb filaments, surgical instruments, and glass for camera lenses. Atomic number 73; atomic weight 180.948; melting point 3,017°C; boiling point 5,458°C; specific gravity 16.6; valence 2, 3, 4, 5. See Periodic Table.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.