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The elements with the highest boiling points are rhenium and tungsten. In our element data, rhenium boils at 5,869 K (about 5,596 °C) and tungsten at 5,828 K (about 5,555 °C) — similar to the temperature at the surface of the Sun.
Different reference sources quote slightly different values for both (measuring anything at 5,500 °C is extremely hard), and some place tungsten first. Either way, these two are in a class of their own.
The top 10 (from our element data)
| Rank | Element | Boiling point (K) | Boiling point (°C) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rhenium | 5,869 | ~5,596 |
| 2 | Tungsten | 5,828 | ~5,555 |
| 3 | Tantalum | 5,731 | ~5,458 |
| 4 | Osmium | 5,285 | ~5,012 |
| 5 | Thorium | 5,061 | ~4,788 |
| 6 | Niobium | 5,017 | ~4,744 |
| 7 | Molybdenum | 4,912 | ~4,639 |
| 8 | Hafnium | 4,876 | ~4,603 |
| 9 | Iridium | 4,701 | ~4,428 |
| 10 | Zirconium | 4,682 | ~4,409 |
Carbon isn’t on this list because at normal pressure it doesn’t boil — it sublimes directly from solid to gas at around 3,640 °C.
Why metals in the middle of the d-block win
To boil a metal you have to separate its atoms completely, pulling each one out of the sea of shared electrons that holds the metal together. That takes the most energy when:
- the atoms contribute many electrons to metallic bonding — the transition metals of groups 5 to 8 have lots of d and s electrons available;
- the d orbitals are around half filled, giving the strongest bonding;
- the atoms are heavy and in period 6, where the 5d orbitals overlap particularly well.
That’s why the top of the list is dominated by rhenium, tungsten, tantalum and osmium, all neighbours in period 6. You can see the pattern in the boiling point trend map.
Thorium, an actinide, is an interesting outlier — it’s the only f-block element in the top ten.
Boiling point vs. melting point
The two rankings are similar but not identical. Tungsten has the highest melting point of any metal, but rhenium edges it on boiling point in our data. Melting only needs the atoms to break out of their fixed lattice positions; boiling needs them to escape the liquid altogether, which depends on slightly different aspects of the bonding. See the highest melting point element.
The lowest boiling points
| Element | Boiling point (°C) |
|---|---|
| Helium | −268.9 |
| Hydrogen | −252.9 |
| Neon | −246.1 |
| Nitrogen | −195.8 |
| Fluorine | −188.1 |
| Argon | −185.9 |
| Oxygen | −183.0 |
Liquid nitrogen (−196 °C) is cheap and widely used for freezing biological samples and in cryogenics. Helium, the lowest-boiling substance known, is needed for the coldest applications, like superconducting magnets.
Quick answers
What element has the highest boiling point? Rhenium in our data (5,869 K), with tungsten a very close second. Some references reverse the order.
What has a higher boiling point, iron or tungsten? Tungsten, by a wide margin — iron boils at about 2,860 °C.
What is the boiling point range of the elements? From about −269 °C (helium) to about 5,600 °C (rhenium/tungsten).
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