Sunday, June 16, 2019

By Dennis Hughes


The term metal comes from the Greek language where it translates to quarry or mine in the English language. Generally, metals are good conductors of both electricity and heat. These materials are malleable and ductile. Being malleable means that they can be hammered into sheets while ductility means that they can be drawn into wires. Metals can be alloys or chemical elements such as stainless steel and iron respectively. Here are facts regarding AZ metals.

The meaning of the word metal varies depending on the subject being considered. For example, the term might be used to refer to any element that can conduct electricity at absolute zero temperature in Physics. Most elements and compounds that are not considered as metal generally are often metallic when put under high pressure levels. Iodine is a good example because it becomes metallic when put under levels of pressure ranging from 40 to 170 times that of the pressure of the atmosphere.

The crust of the earth is composed of 25 percent of metal. It is due to their abundance that metal is very common in almost every aspect of everyday life. Different metals have different properties and that is why some are used more than others. Generally, metal exhibit a lot of resilience and strength. The strength makes them to find application in the construction of bridges and high-rise buildings.

Other products that are made of metal include home appliances, pipes, tools, vehicles, furniture, utensils, stationery, and aircraft among many others. In the old world, precious metals were used in coinage, but that has changed today. This is because coinage has now extended to at least 23 elements on the periodic table.

The use of metal in history is believed to have started with the use of copper. Metals started being used over 11 thousand years back. Bronze usage first started in the 5th millennium BCE. Other metals like iron, brass, gold, silver were already in use when bronze started to be used. In 1809, sodium was discovered as the first light metal even though early forms of steel were already in existence.

More sophisticated alloys started to be produced and used in most processes and products after world war two. Alloys are usually described as substances that are composed of more than one element whereby one is a metal. Usually, they contain metallic properties. The composition might be variable or fixed. This depends on the chemical elements used in making the alloy.

There are several reasons why it is important to make alloys for use. One of these reasons is that metal in its pure form tends to be too brittle, soft, or chemically reactive to be put to any practical use. When different ratios of metals are combined, their properties are modified to achieve desirable characteristics. The reason why alloys are made is to make them harder, corrosion resistant, and less brittle.

More desirable colors and lusters are contained in alloys than in pure metal. Although many alloys are being used today, those of iron are the most abundant. Their commercial use and quantity are used to measure their abundance. Some of the popular alloys of iron are carbon steel, stainless steel, cast iron, alloy steel, and tool steel.




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