ElementsWhat is titanium?
Titanium is as strong as steel but much lighter, and it resists rust and sea water. It is common in rocks and beach sands as the minerals ilmenite and rutile.
What is titanium used for?
Aircraft and jet engines, hip and dental implants, and the white pigment titanium dioxide used in paint, paper and sunscreen.
Where the name comes from
From the Titans of Greek myth.
Key facts
- Symbol
- Ti
- Atomic number
- 22
- Atomic mass
- 47.867 u
- Family
- Transition metal
- Period
- 4
- Group
- 4
- Block
- d
- State at room temperature
- Solid
- Melting point
- 1,668 °C (1,941 K, 3,034 °F)
- Boiling point
- 3,287 °C (3,560 K, 5,948 °F)
- Density
- 4.5 g/cm³
- Electrons per shell
- 2, 8, 10, 2
- Electron configuration
- [Ar]4s2 3d2
- Common oxidation states
- +4, +3, +2
- Electronegativity (Pauling)
- 1.54
- First ionisation energy
- 6.828 eV
- Electron affinity
- 0.079 eV
- Atomic radius (van der Waals)
- 187 pm
- Discovered
- 1791
Place in the periodic table
Titanium is element number 22. It sits in period 4 (row 4) of the periodic table, in group 4 (column 4), and belongs to the d-block. Just before it comes scandium (21), and just after it comes vanadium (23). In the same column, zirconium is below it. Elements in one column tend to behave alike.
Family: Transition metals.
Physical properties
At room temperature titanium is a solid. It melts at 1,668 °C and boils at 3,287 °C, so it stays liquid over a range of 1,619 degrees. Its density is 4.5 grams per cubic centimetre, so a one-litre block would weigh about 4.5 kilograms. By density it ranks 66th among the 96 elements with a measured value.
Inside the atom
An atom of titanium has 22 protons in its nucleus and, when neutral, 22 electrons around it. The electrons are arranged in 4 shells: 2, 8, 10, 2. The outermost shell holds 2 electrons. Written in full, the electron configuration is [Ar]4s2 3d2.
Its electronegativity on the Pauling scale is 1.54. This number shows how strongly an atom pulls shared electrons towards itself: fluorine, the strongest, is 3.98. Removing one electron from an atom takes 6.828 electronvolts (about 659 kilojoules per mole). One mole of titanium weighs 47.867 grams, so a single gram contains about 1.26 × 1022 atoms.
The ring picture is a simple model that only counts the electrons in each shell. Real atoms do not look like this.
Next steps
- Work out the weight of a compound that contains titanium with the molar mass calculator.
- Compare it with every other element in the sortable list.
- Test yourself with the symbol quiz.
Figures on this page are from PubChem (U.S. National Library of Medicine), as downloaded on 11 November 2026. See About and data sources.