Calcium, titanium, and chromium

Calcium
The Presidents residence is commonly referred to as the White House. It became known as the White House because it was coated in a mixture of lime and glue. Lime is created by heating chalk, sea shells, or limestone; it is an oxide of calcium.
Lime is brushed on tombs to protect it from the elements. It is used in burials because it draws out moisture from the corpse and reduces the risk of disease. This may be why whiteness is associated with death,  because when nothing is left of you your bones will still be white.
Titanium
Titanium metal was discovered in 1910, but not used commercialy for another ten years. It is hard to believe because it is such a versatile metal, it is strong, light and resistant to corrosion. It is used in many things because of these properties like, bikes, planes, hip joints and planes.
Titanium has interesting qualities. It cannot be soldered, instead it must be welded using a laser. The melting point for it is 1,660 degrees Celsius, which is why the laser is used.
Chromium
This element is better referred to as crime and most infamous in the car industry. Its popularity peaked in the 1920's in American cars. America was the first to make cars less modest and more flashy with a jet like look.
This theme persists through to today where it is still readily found on cars, but is has become more of a "manly" appeal. This is ironic because the second biggest counsomer of chrome was the appliance industry. It was appealing to many women because it didn't need to be shined daily.
Chrome just shines with the roaring '20's, radiating excitement, speed and glamor.

Copper, Zinc and Aluminium

Copper

Copper is exploited for human use and has connected our world for centuries. Copper was exploited first for its malleability because it could be hammared out to make beauitful art, but also it was strong enough to be practical. Possibly one of the first cultures to do this was the ancient Egyptions, who used copper to make sowrds, helmets, and drain pipes. Henery VIII implemented copper in the silver coinage,when it wore down it would turn his nose red on the coin, earning him the nickname Old Coppernose. Our own hero Paul Revere was known for his copper-bottomed pots and pans in the early ninetheeh century. 

Copper was exploited next for its ductility, this is possibly the most well known way copper can be used and is still being used. Copper can be beaten down and drawn into a wire, that wire conducts electricty and is they first way our world became instantly connected. The first practical telegraph was invented by Charles Wheatstone and William Fothergill Cooke in 1837, they laid it on a railway that connected Euston and Chalk Farm, London. In 1838 Sameul Morse was in London trying to obtain a patent for his invention, a telegraph. Wheatstone used his connections to get Morse's patent denied, so Morse went back to America where he got a patent for his coded telegraph method, now known as Morse Code.

The next big step for copper would be a grand idea from the English who intended to lay a copper cable under the ocean; first under the English Channel, then under the Attlantic Ocean.This was a colossal project, for the technical requirments were extreme because there would not be a wire booster under the water. In 1857 the Valentina carried 1,200 two mile lengths of copper wwire, no thicker then pencil lead off the coast of Ireland; this cable broke 400 miles out. In 1866 the perment transatlantic cable was laid by the Great Eastern , it wieghed 365 tons , three times what the previous weighed.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGfY4Zzq2fI 

Zinc

Germanys highest militery honor is the Iron Cross, designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel; belying its name this medal is partaly made of zinc. Schinkel is a talented Prussian architect, who is celebreated for his Greek-influenced neoclasical style with emaculate detailing. His work was more about effect then athenticity of material, some of his are not always what they appear to be, but more then often hollowed zinc. In fact, architects had been using zinc for thousands of years in the form of brass, a zinc and copper alloy. 

Zinc has other uses unknown to many. It provides a hygenic way to transport dead bodies across national borders because it provides a two way barrier. It is used to slow the elements that cause decay and to protect whatever is on the outside of it. 

There is a poem that begins " Here in this zinc lies a dead person". Even through all of this zinc is said to symbolize progress towards a goal.

Aluminum

The Washington Monument was dedicated in 1885, but a lot of work went into it before that. The colossal marble obelisk went up, but needed something to cap it off, so Colonel Thomas Casey chose aluminum. He chose aluminum because " of its whiteness and the probability that its polished surfaces would not tarnish upon exposure to air." Right after this was done aluminum's price dropped tenfold. This was because Paul Heroult and Charles Martin Hall invented a process to separate aluminum from its ore by using an electric current, the old process used pure sodium metal which was hard to obtain, making aluminum expensive. 

After aluminum was cheapened we put it to work. Its low weight made it perfect for transportation. At the Chicago Century of Progress Exhibition in 1933 a Pullman railway coach was displayed and it weighed half of what a standard railway coach did. It was also wildly popular in the home for kitchen utensils, pots and pans. It held heat better the cast iron and was far lighter. 

Tin, Lead, and Silver

Tin
Of all the elements tin is the most underrated; if something sounds bad it sounds tinny, or the Ford Model T was nicknamed the "Tin Lizzie", even know it was primarily made from steel. Tin has been exploited since 2000BC in Cornwall, by such rudimentary principles like setting fire against rocks to melt it out. Pure tin is much to soft for practical use so it was mainly used for aesthetic purposes, like ornaments. Cuttlebones, from the cuttlefish, have been used since at least Roman times to mold tin ornaments because it is easily carved and able to withstand the heat of molten tin. It also was used for prosthetics because it can be molded to follow the body's lines. In the Wonderful Wizard of Oz the tinman was actually a woodchopper whose ax is cursed and seers all of his limbs off and his head; each one is then replaced by a tin prosthetic.


Cuddle fish bone

Lead
Lead was connected to Saturn, the god of melancholy, by alchemists, but by many others it is the most closely related to death. This may have began to carry the connotation of death because the bodies of popes and kings were traditionally put in lead sarcophagi, so that their soul does not escape. Lead was used in Roman times to make dice because lead is heavy and heavy fall makes a choices. Lead is also used in celebrations in parts of Europe where lead ore is found, many countries pour molten lead into water and from there your fortune can be deduced. This ceremony happens on New Year's Eve in Germany and Luca's Day in Hungary to name a few. Lead is most often associated with weaponry, but it started because balls of lead were used as projectiles for slingshots and has now been made into bullets for fire arms.
Silver
Silver is most commonly associated with the moon and femininity. Artemis, the Greek goddess of the moon, virginity and protector of women, carried a silver bow while she hunted with her band of maidens. In 1996 the Christian movement, Silver Ring Thing, brought back the symbolic value of silver. Silver Ring Thing promoted chastity among teenagers, it was launched by the para-church youth ministry who used the symbolism behind silver to promote it. The alchemical symbol for silver is a half circle, a symbol of the mood or maybe of the elements incompleteness or imperfection. Silver tarnishes into blackness, almost like humans propensity to go into the inevitable darkness. Silver was used by many cultures for coinage because it is rare enough to be valuable, but also common enough to be practical for minting. Silver is used today as nano-particles in refrigerators to battle bacteria.  

Thallium and Helium

Thallium
The book The Pale Horse, may have been the inspiration for many fatal poisonings by a mysterious element. Thallium was discovered by William Crookes in 1861, he named the element after the Greek word for the green shots on plants. At the same time Claude-Auguste Lamy also isolated thallium and in 1962 brought it to the International Exhibition, where Crookes was also showing isolated thallium. Lamy won exhibition prize and denounced Crookes discovery as nothing more then impure sulphide. Crookes later got a redress from the exhibition and gained Royal Society membership. The Pale Horse popularized thallium, for good and bad. There was a significant upcroping in thallium poisoning cases, but was also the name of a fragrance line.
Helium 
 The discovery of helium was accidental , like many other great scientific discoveries. It was an astronomer, Pierre Janssen, who while observing a solar eclipse noticed red and blue lines in the crona of the sun. Years later Norman Lockyer observed similar events and named the element helium after the Greek word for sun. In 1895 William Ramsay collected the first sample of helium and sent it to Lockyer to vindicate him.