From Arsenic to Zirconium

TANTALUM, Ta

THE PHONE SHRINKER

When Ekeberg named tantalum, he’d Tantalus in mind,

’Tis soft ’n’ dense, and hard to melt, and quite inert you’ll find.

They’ve screwed its plates to cracked skull bone,

And used its chips to shrink your phone,

But Death has stalked the DRC where coltan ores get mined!

When Ekeberg named tantalum, he’d Tantalus in mind,

GROUP 5 TRANSITION METAL

In 1802, the Swedish chemist Anders Gustaf Ekeberg (1767–1813) claimed the discovery of a new element. He named it tantalum (after Tantalus, a king in Greek mythology) because of its reluctance to dissolve in acids. Tantalus was condemned by the gods of Olympus for (among ...