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.
I didn't know that the Washington Monument had aluminum at the top of it, that's pretty cool!
ReplyDeleteI never knew that zinc provides a hygienic way to transport dead bodies. That is pretty interesting.
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