Metals are some of the most important materials on Earth. Check out
these fun facts about metal.
- The periodic table consists of 118 known elements,
and approximately 95 of these are metals, with a small group of
about 7 or 8 “metalloids” that are neither one nor the other,
but have properties of both. The classification of metals,
metalloids, and non-metals varies a bit, depending on the
criteria used.
- Most metals are lustrous solids at
room temperature. They are malleable and ductile, and able to
conduct electricity and heat. They also can be heated and forged
or melted and casted.
- Pure aluminum, which is the
third most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust, was once
considered a precious metal worth more than gold, until cheaper
methods for separating it out from ore were invented in the
1800s.
- Due to their strong metallic bonds, most
metals have high melting points. Tungsten has the highest
melting point of all pure metals at 6192 °F and the highest
boiling point at 10706 °F.
- Steel is the
most recycled material by far, more than all aluminum, paper,
plastic, and glass combined. Steelmaking furnaces in North America
recycle nearly 70 million tons of domestic steel scrap each year
including cans, cars, appliances, and construction materials,
conserving energy, emissions, raw materials, and natural
resources.
- Mercury, with the lowest melting point of
all metals at −37.89 °F, is the only metal that is liquid at
standard room temperature and pressure.
- Some of the
tallest buildings built in the 1800s used cast iron and wrought iron
to support the upper floors and roof. But once the Bessemer process
for making steel was improved for commercial use, steel frames made
possible much taller buildings, such as the 10-story Home Insurance
Company Building in Chicago (1884-5), considered the first
true skyscraper.
- Gold, copper, silver, lead, tin,
iron, and mercury, and their alloys, including bronze and brass,
were the only known metals up until the Middle Ages.
- The Brooklyn Bridge, which opened in 1883, would not have been
completed without the work of a woman, Emily Warren Roebling, after
her husband, Washington Roebling became incapacitated. The 1,595-ft.
span suspension bridge is held up by 15.5-in. diameter cables each
containing 5,434 parallel steel wires connecting the masonry
towers.
- Research has proven that copper and its
alloys, such as brass, have natural anti-microbial properties and
can quickly kill viruses and bacteria. Hospitals and food service
institutions use these metals on frequently touched surfaces, such
as doorknobs, faucets, hand rails, etc., to help prevent the spread
of disease.
Industrial Metal Supply is your number one source of
metal and metal equipment supplies and accessories.
