What place was called the copper island?

Cyprus, the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, is located 70 kilometres south of Turkey and 96 kilometres off the coast of Syria.

With an area of 9,251 km² , the island is the size of Puerto Rico. Some 611,000 are Greek Cypriots, while some 142,000 are of Turkish origin.

In ancient times, Cyprus was famous for its copper mines. In fact, the name of the island gave rise to the word kypros which is what the Greeks called copper. This Latin word is Cuprum and from which comes our modern word for copper.

Over the centuries, Cyprus has been conquered and ruled by many peoples, including the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Turks and Crusaders. The British gained control of the island in the 19th century, and Cyprus did not become an independent nation until 1960.

After independence, many Greek Cypriots on the island wanted to be part of Greece, while the Turkish Cypriots wanted to divide the island between the Greeks and the Turks who lived there. A civil war in 1974 caused Turkish troops to invade Cyprus and conquer the northern part of the island.

Cyprus is still divided today. The southern part is populated by the Greeks and is called the Republic of Cyprus. The north, Turkish part was declared independent in 1975, and established a government of its own, although it is not recognized by the United Nations.

Today, Cyprus still produces small quantities of copper. But it is best known for its wine and cigarettes. In relation to its population, Cyprus produces more wine and cigarettes than many countries on Earth.

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Where is the world's largest gold mine?

California was once the Mecca of gold mining, but today the region that produces the most gold in the world is in South Africa, near the city of Johannesburg.

This mining area produces about half of the world's gold, and some years production has been over 1,000 tonnes!

The largest group of mines in South Africa is called East Rand Mine, covering an area of 12,000 acres. The largest mine in this group has tunnels extending more than 4,000 kilometres.

Where does aluminum come from?

Aluminum is found around all of us, in almost every rock, plant, and animal on the planet.

It is the third most abundant element on the earth's surface, after oxygen and silicon, and the compounds in which it is found form about 15 percent of the weight of the Earth's crust. But nowhere in nature is this metal found in a pure form - as it is always linked to other elements.

Some parts of the earth's crust contain large quantities of aluminium compounds, it is in these regions that the aluminium ore is mined.

The most common aluminum ore is called bauxite. Electric currents (electrolysis) are used to separate aluminum from bauxite. It is this purified aluminum that is used in the manufacture of aluminum foil and other diverse materials.

Aluminum is used as a wrapping foil because it is light, weighing less than half the weight of iron or copper, and can be pressed into very thin sheets. Aluminum is a good conductor of electricity and a good insulator against heat and light, making it perfect for wrapping and protecting food.

Australia is the world's largest bauxite producer, producing twice as much bauxite as any other nation.
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Is uranium found in nature?

Uraninite

Uranium is not an artificial substance, but a natural element, just like oxygen, iron, or gold. It is found in the Earth's crust, in seawater, and even in the tissues of living things. In fact, there is more uranium in the Earth's crust than other elements such as silver, mercury or iodine!

But uranium is never found in nature in its pure form. Many tons of uranium ore have to be mined to produce just one kilogram of uranium, and this uranium is not pure, but mixed with oxygen.

This uranium oxide must then be purified to obtain pure uranium. But the process does not end here, but the uranium has to be purified again, before it is the right type for use in atomic bombs and nuclear power plants.

Pure uranium is a white metal, which looks like steel. It is very heavy - the heaviest of all natural elements, in fact; one cubic foot of uranium weighs more than 450 kg!

The largest uranium deposits are in Canada, Zaire, Australia and the United States. The largest existing uranium mine is in Namibia, in southwest Africa.

Man has been using uranium for more than 2,000 years, but for 1,900 years, it was only used as a pigment in the manufacture of glass and paint in China!

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Mercury (element)

   Mercury is a heavy, silver-colored element. It is the only common metal which is LIQUID at room temperatures. The Latin name for it is hydrargyrum, meaning "liquid silver," which it very much resembles. Mercury is really not a form of silver, although a common name for it is quicksilver. Owing to its weight and fluid form, it slips out of grasp most readily.
   Mercury occurs free in nature but is principally obtained from an ore called CINNABAR, a red sulfide of mercury. This is heated, and vapors of the element are condensed and processed to purity.
   Mercury is useful for THERMOMETERS, as it does not cling to the walls of the tube. Since it has a higher BOILING POINT than alcohol, it is used where temperatures are high. Mercury also serves in other instruments including BAROMETERS, where its weight is desirable, because the atmosphere supports a column thirty inches high.
   Mercury can combine with other metals by being worked into them. These combinations are called amalgams. Dentists use amalgams of silver and gold for fillings.
   Mercury (symbol Hg from Latin hydrargyrum) has atomic number 80. Its atomic weight is 200.59 (200.61, O= 16). Some of its compounds are poisonous.

Bronze alloy facts

   The alloy called bronze is a mixture of copper and tin. Bronze has been used for at least 5,000 years—much longer than iron.
   People of the Old Stone Age used tools and weapons made of stone. In the New Stone Age they had much better stone weapons. When copper was discovered, our early ancestors began making tools of copper. But copper was not hard enough to take the place of stone entirely.
   Probably bronze was first made by accident. Some rocks have in them both copper ore and tin ore. When early man discovered bronze, he found it was much harder than copper. Early man learned to use bronze for tools and weapons. Later it was found that iron made even better tools and weapons. Iron gradually took the place of bronze.
   The time when people used bronze for tools and weapons is called the Bronze Age. The Bronze Age came at different times in different parts of the world. The early civilizations of the Near East were in their Bronze Age more than 4,000 years ago. The Indians of South America were still in their Bronze Age when Columbus reached the New World more than 500 years ago.
   Today many beautiful bowls and statues and doors are made of bronze. Much hardware is made of it. Bronze is used in bells, too. One big use of bronze in the United States is for pennies.
   Things made of bronze last for a very long time. Bronze can stand heat and cold, wind and rain, and much handling. It lasts so well that it is sometimes called the "eternal metal."
 

Lutetium (metal)

   Lutetium, element number 71, is the last metal in the lanthanide series of rate-earth elements. It is like lanthanum and the other lanthanides in that its compounds are colorless and not magnetic. Lutetium was named after the Roman name of Paris, France.
   The lanthanide elements have properties remarkably alike. The similarity occurs because each element has two electrons in the outermost shell. Because of the great similarity in chemical properties, it is difficult to isolate one rare earth like lutetium from the others.
   Lutetium (symbol Lu) was first separated from ytterbium in 1907. It has an atomic weight of 174.97 (174.99, O=16). It is sometimes spelled lutecium.

What is Polonium?

   Polonium is a chemical element. It is radioactive, like uranium and radium. Its symbol is Po and its atomic number is 84. The mass number of its most stable isotope is 210.
   Polonium was discovered by Madame Curie in 1898. She named it after her native land, Poland.    Madame Curie discovered polonium in some samples of uranium she had obtained from pitchblende.
   Polonium is mainly used to produce neutron sources. It is also used in spark plugs and in devices to eliminate static.
   Polonium is not found in a natural, simple state. It is found in all uranium minerals, and can be obtained by separating it from uranium residues. It can be produced by bombarding bismuth with neutrons.

What is chromium?

   Many people know what chromium looks like, for the bright metal trimming on automobiles is plated with chromium. The plating is very thin, but it makes a pretty covering for the steel underneath and keeps it from rusting.
   Chromium, however, would not be a very important metal if it were used just to trim automobiles. Really very little of all the chromium used goes for trimmings. Far more goes into making stainless steel.
   The name "chromium"'comes from the Greek word for "color." Chromium gives a beautiful color to many of the substances in which it is found. Rubies, emeralds, and some sapphires owe their color to the presence of chromium.
   Chromium is never found pure. The people of ancient times did not know that there was such a metal.
   One of the ores which contains chromium is called chromite. Chromite is useful as a lining for furnaces for making steel.
   There is a great deal of chromium ore in the United States. But until World War II supplies were easier to get from other countries. Then, during the war, there was danger that the supplies might be shut off. Americans started mining their own chromium. Men blasted tunnels into the Bear-tooth  
Mountains in Montana and began digging away tons of ore. With this huge supply American manufacturers will probably never have to worry about needing chromium.

What is a fusible metal?

   A fusible metal is any alloy which melts at a temperature below that of boiling water, and below the arithmetic mean of the temperatures of fusion of the component parts—a feature especially marked with certain alloys of bismuth. Such alloys expand on cooling, and thus take fine impressions of molds. They are employed in electrotyping, in taking casts of medals and of woodcuts, in testing the finish of dies, for making anatomical casts and safety plugs for steam boilers, and in the construction of automatic fire sprinklers.
   Examples are: Rose's alloy, composed of bismuth 2 parts, lead 1, tin 1; melts at 94 °C. (201 °F.). Wood's alloy, composed of bismuth 15 parts, tin 4, cadmium 3; melts at 60 °C. (140 °F.) Lifiowitz' alloy, composed of bismuth 15 parts, lead 8, tin 4, cadmium 3; melts at 65 °C. (149 °F.). D'Arcet's alloy, composed of bismuth 8 parts, lead 8, tin 3; melts at 79 °C. (174 °F.). Newton's alloy, composed of bismuth 8 parts, lead 5, tin 3; melts at 94.5  C. (202 °F.).

What is Magnetite?

   Most magnetic bodies must be made magnetic by using some outside influence such as electricity. There are, however, certain metals which naturally possess the ability to attract other metals. These natural magnets, called lodestones, are composed of an iron oxide called magnetite.
   Generally, magnetite is found in the unmagnetized state. Even in the unmagnetized state it is still much more strongly attracted by other magnets than most metals. Another common name for this iron ore is magnetic iron. The chemical composition of magnetite is Fe₃O₄. It has a specific gravity of 5.18 and its hardness is six on the Mohs hardness scale.

Palladium

   Palladium is a metallic element. It has a bright silvery luster. This rare, grayish element is less dense, a little harder, and more easily oxidized, than platinum. It is found in platinum, nickel and copper ores.
   Pure palladium is used in the manufacture of mirrors and watch springs. It is also used in alloys with gold, platinum, and silver. These alloys are used for jewelry, dental equipment, picture frames, pocketbook trim, and scientific instruments.
   Palladium (symbol Pd) has atomic number 46. It has an atomic weight of 106.4 (unchanged from oxygen). It was discovered in 1804 by William Wollaston.

What is forging?

   Forging is the shaping of metal, usually iron or steel, by heat and pressure. However, aluminum and other metals are also forged. In forging, the metal is never melted. It is heated until it becomes plastic, and then it is molded into shape by impact and pressure. The principal kinds of forging are: swaging, or the reducing of a larger piece to a smaller one; upsetting, or the enlargement of a smaller piece; bending; welding, or the uniting of one piece of metal to another; punching, or the formation of holes; and cutting off. Originally, all of these operations were performed by the blacksmith with hammer and anvil. However, with the development of modern industry and the tremendous increase in the quantity and size of operations, special equipment became necessary. Giant steam hammers have been constructed with a falling weight of from 2,000 to 5,000 pounds. These hammers form part of the equipment of drop forges. There are also forging presses that exert a pressure as high as 10 to 15 tons per square inch. For modern forging operations there are special dies that determine the required shape. For durability, these dies may be made of special alloys, such as vanadium steel.

What is zinc?

   Zinc is a hard, silvery metal belonging to the nonferrous metal group. In nature zinc rarely occurs as a free element. It is widely distributed in compounds, such as franklinite, a zinc-iron manganese mineral; willemite, a zinc silicate; and zincite, a zinc oxide.
   After segregation of the mineral into concentrates, the ore goes to the smelters where the distillation, or retort, method is used. After being roasted and reduced in a retort furnace, the metallic zinc is then boiled to a vapor and condensed as pure zinc. For high grade zinc, the electrolytic method of refinement is used.
   Since zinc melts easily and does not rust, it is used for galvanizing steel and iron products, such as buckets, wires, and pipes. It is a main alloying constituent of brass. Zinc (symbol Zn) has atomic number 30. Its atomic weight is 65.37 (65.38, O = 16). It has a density of 7.14 gm/cc and a melting point of 419 °C.

Iridium

   Iridium is a metallic element much like platinum. It was identified in 1802. With the exception of osmium, also a newly discovered metal, it is the heaviest substance known. It is very difficult to melt, requiring a temperature of at least 3600 °F. It is insoluble in acid and does not rust. It is used frequently for the tips of gold and stylographic pens. Also in the construction of electric instruments, as the resistance coil. Small quantities are obtained in California, Borneo, Brazil, and in the Ural Mountains. It forms three oxides. The solutions made from the salts of the metal take on various tints; hence the name, from Iris, the rainbow.

Niobium

   Niobium is a shiny, grayish metallic element. It was discovered in 1801 by Heinrich Rose. Its original name was columbium. This name is still used often in talking about its minerals.
   It was recently discovered that niobium would withstand very high temperatures. It melts at 1950 °C. It now promises to be important in high temperature alloys and stainless steel for airplanes and rockets.
   Niobium (symbol Nb), element number 41, has atomic weight 92.906 (92.91, O=16).

Nickel

   Nickel is a very hard, magnetic, metallic element. It is almost silver-white. Nickel, capable of a high polish, does not rust easily. Its chemical symbol is Ni. Axel Cronstedt, a Swede, is credited with discovering nickel in 1751.
   Nickel is seldom used in its pure form but is employed as an alloy with other metals. Since it provides an extremely hard surface, nickel is used in electroplating. Certain types of electric batteries use nickel-alloy electrodes.
   Nickel-steel alloys are important in combining iron and steel into the . strongest, toughest steels. Nickel is employed more in steel alloys than for any other purpose.
   Stainless steel combines iron, chromium, and nickel. Invar alloy is used in measuring tapes and watch springs. Alnico is an alloy of aluminum, nickel, cobalt, and iron. Alnico magnets are more magnetic than steel magnets. Copper and nickel are merged into monel metal. It is used in restaurant steam tables, kitchen sinks, and cabinets. Monel metal is easily kept bright and clean.
   The United States coin called a nickel contains 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel. A Canadian nickel contains more nickel. Canada produces more nickel than all other countries combined. The chief nickel ore is pentlandite.
   Nickel's atomic number is 28. Its atomic weight is 58.71.

What is manganese?

   Manganese is a useful hard gray metal. Not a very common element, manganese makes up less than 0.1% of the earth's crust. When it is added to steel, it increases the hardness and strength of the steel.
   Black powdered manganese dioxide has wide use as a catalyst and absorbing chemical. It is used in dry cells.
   Manganese is included in a group of elements called transition elements. They are classified together because in chemical changes electrons are added to inner rather than outer shells of their atoms.
Manganese (symbol Mn) is element number 25. Its atomic weight is 54.938 (54.94, O= 16).

Origin of Bronze

bronze sword

   Sometime between 3500 and 3000 B.C., people discovered that mixing copper and tin would yield a new metallic substance, harder and tougher than either copper or tin. This new substance was bronze, and its discovery was an important event in human history.

   Before the discovery of bronze, most tools and weapons were made of stone, wood, or bone. Stone could be given a sharp edge, but it was hard to shape, and it broke easily. Bone and wood, being softer than stone, were easier to shape. But they also wore out more quickly.

Lithium

   Lithium is the lightest metallic element known. It was discovered in 1817 by a Swedish chemist, J. A. Arfvedson. It is a silver-white metal that tarnishes easily.
   Lithium is found for the most part in North America and Africa and is mined with pegmatite (granite) ores.
In industry, it is used in manufacturing glass and ceramic products and in lubricants. It can easily be worked, extruded or drawn and so may be used for delicate parts.
   The atomic number of lithium (symbol Li) is 3; its atomic weight is 6.941; its boiling point is 1342 °C. and melting point is 181 °C.

Lithium floating in oil