Tungsten is an extremely hard, heavy metal that can withstand incredibly high temperatures without melting. In fact, tungsten has one of the highest melting points of any element: about 6,192 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to melt most other metals. This makes it perfect for situations requiring extreme durability and heat resistance.

You encounter tungsten more often than you might realize. The glowing wire inside old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs is made of tungsten because it can get white-hot without melting or breaking. Tungsten is also used in cutting tools that need to slice through steel, in rocket engine nozzles that must survive scorching exhaust, and even in the tips of some specialized industrial tools.

The name comes from Swedish words meaning “heavy stone,” which makes sense: tungsten is one of the densest metals on Earth, nearly as heavy as gold. A tungsten cube the size of a baseball would weigh about as much as a brick.

Scientists use the symbol W for tungsten, from its other name, wolfram. Despite being incredibly strong, tungsten is also brittle, meaning it can crack or shatter under the wrong kind of force. This combination of extreme hardness and brittleness makes tungsten fascinating to engineers: extraordinarily useful, but requiring careful handling.