| Reactions of Tungsten |
 Reactions with water |
| At room temperature, tungsten does not react with water. |
| Reactions with air |
| At room temperature, tungsten does not react with air or oxygen. At elevated temperatures (red hot), the trioxide tungsten(VI) oxide is formd. Finely divided tungsten metal is pyrophoric.
|
2W(s) + 3O2(g) 2WO3(s) |
| Reactions with halogens |
| Tungsten reacts directly with fluorine at room temperature to form tungsten(VI) fluoride.
|
| W(s) + 3F2(g)WF6(g) |
| Tungsten reacts directly with chlorine at 250°C or bromine to form respectively tungsten(VI) chloride or tungsten(VI) bromide. Under carefully controlled conditions, tungsten(V) chloride
is formed in the reaction between tungsten metal and chlorine. It seems that tungsten does react to some extent with iodine at red heat.
|
| W(s) + 3Cl2(g)WCl6(s) |
| W(s) + 3Cl2(l)WBr6(s) |
| 2W(s) + 5Cl2(g)2WCl5(s) |
| Reactions with acids |
| Tungsten metal is largely unaffected by most acids. |
| Reactions with bases |
| Tungsten metal does not react to any significant extent with dilute solutions of hydroxide. |
| |
W2O5(s) + H2O