# tungsten

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tungsten/190763>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 25, 2003, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tungsten/190763 "2003-07-25T00:18:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BigBeaverBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@BigBeaverBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigBeaverBill)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tungsten/190763/1 "2003-07-25T00:18:43Z")

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Tungsten has the highest melting point of any known metal. How was that measurement taken? Of what material was the furnace made? Has anyone duplicated the results?

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**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tungsten/190763/2 "2003-07-25T00:34:36Z")

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I may be wrong, but can’t you calculate the melting point of elements from their atomic weight or something?

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tungsten/190763/3 "2003-07-25T00:42:23Z")

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No, but you could calculate a ballpark figure from interatomic binding energies. To get an exact number though, you need to measure it. There are many ceramis with higher melting points than tungsten, and there are methods for indirectly measuring temperature, so it’s far from an impossible task.

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tungsten/190763/4 "2003-07-25T00:43:30Z")

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That’s cerami **c** s, of course.

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**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tungsten/190763/5 "2003-07-25T03:38:34Z")

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Whack it in a furnace until it melts.  
You can use an infra-red thermometer to measure the temperature.

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**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tungsten/190763/6 "2003-08-13T00:28:48Z")

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**BigBeaverBill**  
The first determination of the melting point of Tungsten was done by Pirani and Alterthum. They used a tungsten bar having a radial hole drilled from the surface to the centre. The bar is heated by an electric current and a pyrometer used to measure the black body radiation down the hole. At the moment of fusion there is a sudden drop in brightness.

You can use an arc furnace with an IR thermometer, but the IR thermometer is not very accurate at high temperatures due to the change in emmissivity with temperature - one has to estimate emmissivity. [More on pyrometers and infrared thermometers](http://www.pyrometer.com/whats_new/processheating9-99.htm)

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tungsten/190763/7 "2003-08-13T00:50:14Z")

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Way cool answer **antechinus**. Er, I mean “way hot”???