Editing Tantalum (section)

==History==
Tantalum was discovered in Sweden in 1802 by [[Anders Ekeberg]], in two mineral samples – one from Sweden and the other from Finland.<ref>{{cite journal | journal = Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and the Arts | pages = 251–255 | volume = 3 | year = 1802| first = Anders | last = Ekeberg | title = Of the Properties of the Earth Yttria, compared with those of Glucine; of Fossils, in which the first of these Earths in contained; and of the Discovery of a metallic Nature (Tantalium) | url = https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/15589#page/265/mode/1up}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | journal = Kungliga Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens Handlingar |year = 1802 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/kungligasvenskav2231kung/page/68 68]–83 | volume = 23| first = Anders | last = Ekeberg | title = Uplysning om Ytterjorden egenskaper, i synnerhet i aemforelse med Berylljorden:om de Fossilier, havari förstnemnde jord innehales, samt om en ny uptäckt kropp af metallik natur | url = https://archive.org/details/kungligasvenskav2231kung}}</ref> One year earlier, [[Charles Hatchett]] had discovered [[columbium]] (now niobium).<ref>{{cite journal|title = Charles Hatchett FRS (1765–1847), Chemist and Discoverer of Niobium|first = William P.|last = Griffith|author2=Morris, Peter J. T. |journal = Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London|volume = 57|issue = 3|pages = 299–316|date = 2003|jstor = 3557720|doi = 10.1098/rsnr.2003.0216|s2cid = 144857368}}</ref> In 1809, the English chemist [[William Hyde Wollaston]] compared the oxides of columbium and tantalum, [[columbite]] and [[tantalite]]. Although the two oxides had different measured densities of 5.918&nbsp;g/cm<sup>3</sup> and 7.935&nbsp;g/cm<sup>3</sup>, he concluded that they were identical and kept the name tantalum.<ref name="Wolla">{{cite journal|title = On the Identity of Columbium and Tantalum|pages = 246–252|journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London|first = William Hyde|last = Wollaston|author-link = William Hyde Wollaston|doi = 10.1098/rstl.1809.0017| jstor = 107264|volume = 99|date = 1809|s2cid = 110567235}}</ref> After [[Friedrich Wöhler]] confirmed these results, it was thought that columbium and tantalum were the same element. This conclusion was disputed in 1846 by the German chemist [[Heinrich Rose]], who argued that there were two additional elements in the tantalite sample, and he named them after the children of [[Tantalus]]: niobium (from [[Niobe]]), and pelopium (from [[Pelops]]).<ref name="Pelop">{{cite journal|title = Ueber die Zusammensetzung der Tantalite und ein im Tantalite von Baiern enthaltenes neues Metall|pages = 317–341|journal = Annalen der Physik|author-link = Heinrich Rose|language=de|first = Heinrich|last = Rose|doi = 10.1002/andp.18441391006|url = http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k15148n/f327.table|volume = 139|issue = 10|date = 1844|bibcode = 1844AnP...139..317R }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title = Ueber die Säure im Columbit von Nordamérika|language=de|pages = 572–577|first = Heinrich|last = Rose|journal = Annalen der Physik|doi = 10.1002/andp.18471460410|url = http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k15155x/f586.table |date=1847| volume = 146|issue = 4|author-link = Heinrich Rose|bibcode = 1847AnP...146..572R }}</ref> The supposed element "pelopium" was later identified as a mixture of tantalum and niobium, and it was found that the niobium was identical to the columbium already discovered in 1801 by Hatchett.{{Cn|date=October 2024}}

The differences between tantalum and niobium were demonstrated unequivocally in 1864 by [[Christian Wilhelm Blomstrand]],<ref name="Ilmen" /> and [[Henri Etienne Sainte-Claire Deville]], as well as by [[Louis J. Troost]], who determined the empirical formulas of some of their compounds in 1865.<ref name="Ilmen">{{cite journal|title = Tantalsäure, Niobsäure, (Ilmensäure) und Titansäure|journal = Fresenius' Journal of Analytical Chemistry|volume = 5|issue = 1|date = 1866|doi = 10.1007/BF01302537|pages = 384–389|author= Marignac, Blomstrand|author2= H. Deville|author3= L. Troost|author4= R. Hermann|s2cid = 97246260|name-list-style= amp}}</ref><ref name="Gupta" /> Further confirmation came from the Swiss chemist [[Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac]],<ref>{{cite journal|journal = Annales de Chimie et de Physique|title = Recherches sur les combinaisons du niobium|pages = 7–75|author-link = Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac|language=fr| first = M. C.|last= Marignac|url = http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k34818t/f4.table|date= 1866|volume = 4|issue = 8}}</ref> in 1866, who proved that there were only two elements. These discoveries did not stop scientists from publishing articles about the so-called ''[[ilmenium]]'' until 1871.<ref>{{cite journal|title = Fortgesetzte Untersuchungen über die Verbindungen von Ilmenium und Niobium, sowie über die Zusammensetzung der Niobmineralien (Further research about the compounds of ilmenium and niobium, as well as the composition of niobium minerals)|first = R.|last = Hermann|journal = Journal für Praktische Chemie|language=de|volume = 3|issue = 1|pages =373–427|doi = 10.1002/prac.18710030137|date = 1871|url = https://zenodo.org/record/1427850}}</ref> De Marignac was the first to produce the metallic form of tantalum in 1864, when he [[redox|reduced]] tantalum chloride by heating it in an atmosphere of [[hydrogen]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} Early investigators had only been able to produce impure tantalum, and the first relatively pure ductile metal was produced by [[Werner von Bolton]] in [[Charlottenburg]] in 1903. Wires made with metallic tantalum were used for [[light bulb]] filaments until [[tungsten]] replaced it in widespread use.<ref>{{cite journal|title = Scanning Our Past from London The Filament Lamp and New Materials|journal = Proceedings of the IEEE|volume = 89|issue = 3|date = 2001|doi = 10.1109/5.915382|author = Bowers, B.|page = 413|s2cid = 28155048}}</ref>

The name tantalum was derived from the name of the mythological Tantalus, the father of Niobe in [[Greek mythology]]. In the story, he had been punished after death by being condemned to stand knee-deep in water with perfect fruit growing above his head, both of which eternally ''tantalized'' him. (If he bent to drink the water, it drained below the level he could reach, and if he reached for the fruit, the branches moved out of his grasp.)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lempriere |first1=John |title=Lempriere's Classical Dictionary |date=1887 |page=[https://archive.org/details/lemprieresclassi00lemp_0/page/659 659] |url=https://archive.org/details/lemprieresclassi00lemp_0}}</ref> Anders Ekeberg wrote "This metal I call ''tantalum'' ... partly in allusion to its incapacity, when immersed in acid, to absorb any and be saturated."<ref>{{Greenwood&Earnshaw|page=1138}}</ref>

For decades, the commercial technology for separating tantalum from niobium involved the [[fractional crystallization (chemistry)|fractional crystallization]] of [[potassium heptafluorotantalate]] away from potassium oxypentafluoroniobate monohydrate, a process that was discovered by [[Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac]] in 1866. This method has been supplanted by [[solvent extraction]] from fluoride-containing solutions of tantalum.<ref name="Gupta">{{cite book|title = Extractive Metallurgy of Niobium|first = C. K.|last = Gupta|author2=Suri, A. K. |publisher = CRC Press|date = 1994|isbn = 978-0-8493-6071-8}}</ref>