A Brief History of Tungsten’s Applications

Justin Rowlatt of BBC World Service published an article that explains how tungsten went from being an unused metal about a century ago to being a critical metal today. In doing so, he shows how tungsten has come to be so important to the military.

As quoted in the market news:

‘Tungsten makes very good bullets,’ the military analyst Robert Kelley tells me. ‘It is the kind of thing that if you fire it at someone else’s armour, it will go right through it and kill it.’

And just like the creatures of the Cambrian period, once someone starts using teeth (or tungsten bullets) you need to do something about it.

‘If you introduce tungsten into your bullets you’ve got to introduce tungsten into your armour,’ says Mr Kelley.

Click here to read the full BBC World Service article.