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Period: 3300 BCE to 700 BCE
The Bronze age
The Bronze Age began when metallurgists discovered how to mix 2 metals together creating stronger substances known as alloys.
The bronze age is a distinct shift in technology and marks different years in different parts of the world. The Bronze Age starts around 3,300 BC in India, 2,500 BC in Europe, 2,000 BC in China, and before 1,000 BC in the Andes. -
2500 BCE
Copper
Copper was the first metal used by humans for simple tools, discovered in the Middle East 9000BC .
In 2500BC the first annealing of working copper.
Copper has been in use at least 10,000 years and is the most used metal for electric wiring due to it's high electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity. -
1750 BCE
Discovery of Tin
First smelted with copper around 3500 BC to produce bronze.
Tin bonds are used for coating lead, zinc and steel to prevent corrosion. Tin-plated steel containers are widely used for food preservation. Tin has no metallic properties at all because its atoms form a covalent structure in which electrons cannot move freely. -
1500 BCE
Discovery of Iron
The discovery of smelting around 3000BC led to the start of the Iron Age around 1200 BC and the use of iron for tools -
Period: 1200 BCE to 600 BCE
The Iron Age
The Iron Age is an archaeological era, referring to a period of time in the prehistory and protohistory of the Old World (Afro-Eurasia) when the dominant toolmaking material was iron. -
750 BCE
Discovery of Mercury
known to ancient Chinese and Indians before 2000 BC, and found in Egyptian tombs dating from 1500 BC. -
1250
Arsenic
The primary use of metallic arsenic is in alloys of lead, and used in car batteries and ammunition. Arsenic and its compounds, are used in the production of pesticides, treated wood products, herbicides, and insecticides. -
1540
Antimony
Antimony forms a highly useful alloy with lead, increasing its hardness and mechanical strength. For most applications involving lead, varying amounts of antimony are used as alloying metal, which in lead–acid batteries, this improves the charging characteristics and reduces generation of unwanted hydrogen during charging. -
Period: to
17th Century
The 17th century was the century that lasted from January 1, 1601, to December 31, 1700, in the Gregorian calendar. -
Period: to
18th Century
The 18th century lasted from January 1, 1701 to December 31, 1800 in the Gregorian calendar. -
Cobalt
Cobalt-based blue pigments (cobalt blue) have been used since ancient times for jewellery and paints, and to impart a distinctive blue tint to glass. Cobalt is primarily used in the preparation of magnetic, wear-resistant and high-strength alloys. The compounds, cobalt silicate and cobalt(II) aluminate (CoAl2O4, cobalt blue) give a distinctive deep blue color. -
Platinum
Platinum is one of the least reactive metals. It has remarkable resistance to corrosion, even at high temperatures, and is therefore considered a noble metal. Platinum is used in catalytic converters, laboratory equipment, electrical contacts and electrodes, platinum resistance thermometers, dentistry equipment, and jewellery. -
Nickel
After iron, Nickel was believed to be the second most plentiful element found in the Earth and used in production of corrosion-resistant alloys -
Bismuth
Bismuth is the most naturally diamagnetic element, and has one of the lowest values of thermal conductivity among metals.
No other metal is verified to be more naturally diamagnetic than bismuth. Elemental bismuth is denser in liquid form than in solid. -
Period: to
The Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in the period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840. The Industrial revolution inspired innovation and increased the demand for quality and quantity of different metals. -
Manganese
Manganese tarnishes slowly in air and easily oxidises, making it useful for rust and corrosion prevention on steel. -
Period: to
The American Revolution
The American Revolution kicked off the discovery of several different metals such as Bismuth (1753), Manganese (1774), Molybdenum (1781), Tellurium (1782) -
Molybdenum
Molybdenum can withstand extreme temperatures without significantly expanding or softening, making it useful in environments of intense heat, including military armour, aircraft parts, electrical contacts, industrial motors, and filaments. -
Tellurium
Tellurium is used in solar panels and has been proven to contain the greatest efficiencies for solar cell electric power generators by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. -
Zirconium
Zirconium is mainly used as a refractory and opacifier, although small amounts are used as an alloying agent for its strong resistance to corrosion. -
Uranium
Before (and, occasionally, after) the discovery of radioactivity, uranium was primarily used in small amounts for yellow glass and pottery glazes, such as uranium glass and in Fiestaware. The discovery and isolation of radium in uranium ore sparked the development of uranium mining to extract the radium, which was used to make glow-in-the-dark paints for clock and aircraft dials. It's applications today are mostly used in the production of nuclear fuels and weapons. -
Period: to
The French Revolution
The French Revolution led to several different discoveries of metals as well as a considerable stock of malleable platinum. -
Titanium
Titanium can be alloyed with iron, aluminium, vanadium, and molybdenum, to produce strong, lightweight alloys for aerospace (jet engines, missiles, and spacecraft), dental and endodontic instruments, dental implants, sporting goods, jewelry, mobile phones, and other applications. The two most useful properties of the metal are corrosion resistance and strength-to-density ratio, the highest of any metallic element. -
yttrium
Yttrium is found in most rare earth minerals such as uranium ore. The red component of color television cathode ray tubes is typically emitted from an yttria or yttrium oxide sulfide.
Yttrium compounds can serve as host lattices for doping with different lanthanide cations. The radioactive isotope yttrium-90 is used in drugs for the treatment of various cancers. yttrium is also used in alloys to improve workability, adding resistance to to high-temperature oxidation/recrystallization. -
Chromium
Mainly used in the additional alloy in steels making it essential for stainless steels. Improves corrosive resistance. Trivalent chromium (Cr(III)) ion is an essential nutrient in trace amounts in humans for insulin, sugar and lipid metabolism. Chromium is remarkable for its magnetic properties: it is the only elemental solid which shows antiferromagnetic ordering at room temperature (and below). Above 38 °C, it changes to paramagnetic. -
Beryllium
Beryllium improves many physical properties when added as an alloying element to aluminium, copper, iron and nickel. Tools made of beryllium copper alloys are strong and hard. Beryllium's high flexural rigidity, thermal stability, thermal conductivity and low density make beryllium metal a desirable aerospace material for aircraft components, missiles, spacecraft, and satellites. Beryllium and beryllium oxide are also used in thermal management applications. -
Period: to
The Modern Era
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Niobium
It was not until the early 20th century that niobium was first used commercially. An alloy of niobium and iron which has a niobium content of 60-70%. Niobium is used mostly in alloys, the largest part in special steel such as that used in gas pipelines. Although these alloys contain a maximum of 0.1%, the small percentage of niobium enhances the strength of the steel. The temperature stability of niobium-containing superalloys is important for its use in jet and rocket engines. -
Tantalum
Tantalum is a rare, hard, lustrous transition metal that is highly corrosion-resistant. It is part of the refractory metals group, which are widely used as minor components in alloys. Its main use today is in tantalum capacitors in electronic equipment such as mobile phones, DVD players, video game systems and computers. -
Iridium, Palladium, Rhodium
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Potassium, Sodium
Potassium and sodium were both discovered by Sir Humphry Davy. Potassium is chemically very similar to sodium having only one electron in the outer shell. They have a similar first ionisation energy, which allows for each atom to give up its sole outer electron.
Potassium ions are necessary for the function of all living cells.
Sodium bicarbonate is mainly used for cooking. Along with potassium, many important medicines have sodium added to improve their bioavailability. -
Boron, Barium, Calcium, magnesium, Strontium
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Cerium
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Lithium, Cadmium, Selenium
1.Lithium salts have proven to be useful as a mood-stabilising drug in the treatment of bipolar disorder in humans.
2. Selenium salts are toxic in large amounts, but trace amounts are necessary for cellular function in many organisms, including all animals.
3. Cadmium was used for a long time as a corrosion-resistant plating on steel, and cadmium compounds are used as red, orange and yellow pigments, to colour glass, and to stabilise plastic. -
Silicon
Most silicon is used commercially without being separated, and often with little processing of the natural minerals. Such use includes industrial construction with clays, silica sand, and stone. Silicate is used in Portland cement for mortar and stucco, and mixed with silica sand and gravel to make concrete for walkways, foundations, and roads. -
Alluminium
Aluminium is remarkable for the metal's low density and its ability to resist corrosion through the phenomenon of passivation. Aluminium and its alloys are vital to the aerospace industry and important in transportation and structures, such as building facades and window frames. -
Thorium
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Vanadium
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Lanthanum
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Erbium, Terbium
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Ruthenium
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Charles Darwin publishes his works on Evolution.
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Cesium, Rubidum
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Thallium
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Indium
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Gallium
Since its discovery in 1875, gallium has been used to make alloys with low melting points. It is also used in semiconductors as a dopant in semiconductor substrates.
Gallium is used in electronics. Gallium arsenide, the primary chemical compound of gallium in electronics, is used in microwave circuits, high-speed switching circuits, and infrared circuits. Semi-conductive gallium nitride and indium gallium nitride produce blue and violet light-emitting diodes and diode lasers. -
Period: to
Holmium, Thulium, Scandium, Samarium, Gadolinium, Praseodymium, Neodymium, Dysprosium
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Thomas Edison tests his first light bulb
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Germanium
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Polonium, Radium
Both polonium and radium are radioactive and very rarely occur in nature. They have very similar chemical properties, and are both highly toxic. -
Actinium
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Europium
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Period: to
20th Century
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Lutetium
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World War I
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Protactinium
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Rhenium
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Technetium
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Francium
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Period: to
World War 2
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. -
Period: to
Transuranium Elements:
(Neptunium, Plutonium, Curium, Americium, Berkelium, Californium, Einsteinium, Fermium, Mendelevium, Nobelium, Lawrencium) -
Promethium
The first nuclear explosion.
