Tantalum usually is a grayish metal, but it can also be very shiny, when it is arc-melted as this sample is. The metal is remarkably inert. This sample shows how beautifully shiny the metal can be. This is a piece of 10 grams of the metal. The purity of this sample is over 99.95%.

The more common appearance of tantalum is shown in the picture below. These are small hollow tubes, made of tantalum, also of high purity.