Adsorption kinetics and coverage dependence of work function changes and decomposition spectra are determined for ethylene on W(110), W(100), W(112), and W(111) planes using flash desorption and Kelvin probe work function techniques. The appearance of gaseous H2 from ethylene decomposition was found to be rate limited by the ethylene decomposition reaction and in some cases by desorption from separate hydrogen binding sites present on the surface. Adsorption was found to occur on all four faces with near unity sticking probabilities with adsorption kinetics proportional to the number of available sites at any given coverage. Work function measurements show that the work function decreased monotonically over the coverage range with saturation values of −1.1, −0.48, −0.46, and −0.44 eV for the (110), (100), (112), and (111) planes, respectively. These results are explained in terms of the chemical and physical implications drawn from the structures of the ethylene surface complexes. For di-σ adsorbed ethylene, the structures of these complexes, assuming minimal strain in the molecule, are determined by the metal-metal spacings available at the surface. In the course of this investigation it was necessary to study hydrogen adsorption on the four planes using the same techniques. These results are discussed in light of values reported in the literature where available. From the work function data and information in the literature the interaction of hydrogen with these four planes can be divided into two cases: induced heterogeneity on the (110) and (100) planes, and site heterogeneity on the (211) and (111) planes. The assumption of one hydrogen atom adsorbed per two missing nearest neighbor tungsten atoms is shown to be in quantitative agreement with the maximum coverages of hydrogen on all four planes.