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Used for small tools and decorative purposes, humans had not yet fully grasped the mechanics behind smelting and shaping metals yet.
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Mesopotamians were the first to truly harness the strengths of copper; they were the first to extract and shape it, and in their attempts to improve it's properties they accidentally discovered a much stronger metal; bronze.
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Whilst it's believed that lead smelting occurred roughly 9000 years ago, the oldest known artifact is dated circa 3800 B.C, and it's believed that lead became popular in smelting around this time.
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Gold was seen as valuable to most due to it's high lustre; many were impressed by it's sheen and colour. The first firm evidence of gold usage lies with the ancient Egyptians roughly 5000 years ago; it was prized by pharaohs and priests alike - The caps of the Pyramids of Giza were sculpted from solid gold.
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Documented smelting of iron ore by the Chinese
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Was known by the Chinese around 200 B.C, famously involved in the terracotta warriors.
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A lot more iron artifacts were discovered in Mesoptamia, Anatolia and Egypt. 19 iron objects were found in Tutankhamun's tomb (died 1323 BC); a dagger with a gold hilt, an Eye of Horus, the headstand for his body and 16 artisans' tools. This shows that iron was used in weapon forging very early on, likely due to it's high strength - iron greatly outclassed bronze.
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Iron became the dominant metal worldwide as technology spread. Iron replaced bronze in the creation of tools and weapons as it was much stronger and more durable as a material. At first, only wrought iron was used, but with the discovery of carburization we were able to create steels, which were much more malleable and strong
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The Lydian kingdom was a kingdom that arose during the Iron Age, and is most notable for being the genesis of gold/silver coins as a means of currency.
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1250, 1540, 1557, 1735 respectively
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Bismuth (1753), Manganese (1774), Molybdenum (1781), Tellurium (1782), Tungsten (1783) and Zirconium (1789) are all discovered.
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Discovered by Swedish chemist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt in 1751, today it is commonly used in creating corrosion resistant alloys.
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Discovered in 1794 and 1797 respectively
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Discovered in the 18th century, however it was not utilised in construction due to impurities within the metal.
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Discovered by Louis-Nicholas Vauquelin who created chromium oxide by reacting crocoite with hydrochloric acid. Today, Chromium is commonly alloyed with iron to create stainless steels.
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Niobium (1801)
Tantalum (1802)
Iridium, Palladium, Rhodium (1803)
Potassium, Sodium (1807)
Boron, Barium, Calcium, Magnesium, Strontium (1808)
Cerium (1814)
Lithium, Cadmium, Selenium (1817)
Thorium (1828)
Vanadium (1830)
Lanthanum (1839)
Erbium, Terbium (1843)
Ruthenium (1844)
Caesium, Rubidium (1860)
Thallium (1861)
Indium (1863)
Gallium (1875) -
Humphry Davy discovered that aluminium could be produced from the electrolytic reduction of aluminium oxide, but could not prove this theory in practice.
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Geologist Pierre Berthier discovered reddish clay rock deposits in the Le Baux area in France, and hence he named the ore 'Bauxite'.
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Discovered by Jöns Jacob Berzelius who originally believed that the element was not a metal, hence the -on suffix. It is often alloyed with other metals to improve their casting properties.
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Frenchman Eugène-Melchior Péligot extracts uranium from uranium tetrachloride by heating it with Potassium. Today, it is commonly used in nuclear weapons alongside nuclear reactors for power.
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Friedrich Woehler extended off the work of Hans Christian, who had managed to extract an aluminium alloy. In 1845, Woehler managed to extract small globules of aluminium from around 30 grams of aluminium powder; this took 18 years of continuous experimentation
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Holmium, Thulium, Scandium, Samarium, Gadolinium, Praseodymium, Neodymium, Dysprosium (1878 - 1885)
Germanium (1886)
Actinium (1899)
Polonium and Radium (1898) -
Alfred Nobel directed the creation of 'Le Migron' in 1891 - the first passenger boat to use an aluminium hull.
Scottish shipbuilders 'Yarrow and Co.' created the 'Sokol', a 58 metre aluminium torpedo boat that could accelerate to a speed of 32 knots (roughly 60kph), a record speed at the time. - 1894
Karl Benz created a sports car with an aluminium body - presented at an exhibition in Berlin in 1900. -
Europium (1901)
Lutetium (1907)
Protactinium (1917)
Hafnium (1923)
Rhenium (1924)
Technetium (1937)
Francium (1939)
Promethium (1945) -
Wilbur and Orville Wright flew a plane with an engine that was constructed from aluminium parts; this was the first ever plane to become airborne.
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The result of 7 years of hard work by German scientist Alfred Wilm; consisted of aluminium alloyed with copper, magnesium and manganese. This alloy was just as lightweight, however it boasted significant improvements to strength, hardness and elasticity, and hence it became very popular in the aviation industry.
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Technological advancements have allowed humans to create incredibly strong metals known as 'superalloys', which exhibit extremely high levels of strength as well as resistance to thermal and corrosive stresses. Current superalloys are extremely strong albeit expensive, and there is no doubt that newer, stronger superalloys will be created as our technology improves
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The Empire State Building was built in 1931, and it remained the the tallest building worldwide until 1972 at which point it was superceded by the World Trade Center.
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Neptunium, Plutonium, Curium, Americium, Berkelium, Californium, Einsteinium, Fermium, Mendelevium, Nobelium, Lawrencium
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The first satellite was launched by the USSR in 1957, and it was constructed of 2 separate aluminium hemispheres.
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The aluminium can was introduced as a symbol of environmental friendliness and cleanliness.