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Introduction

Metals are a large family of more than 70 chemical elements. Chemical elements are the basic substances that make up the universe. People use metals to make countless things, from toasters to skyscraper buildings.

What Metals Are Like

Metals are usually easy to recognize. Every metal except mercury is solid at room temperature. (Mercury is liquid.) Most metals are gray in color and shiny in appearance. Many metals are quite hard. Metals can be stretched into wire or rolled into sheets. Many metals conduct, or carry, electricity well.

Where Metals Are Found

Living things have certain metals within some of their cells. But the metals that people use to make things are found in Earth’s crust. Only gold and a few other metals can be found in pure form. Most metals are always found in the form of chemical compounds. (Chemical compounds are mixtures of two or more chemical elements.) A rock that contains a metallic chemical compound is called an ore.

Extracting Metals

Metallurgy is the science of separating metals from ore and then working with the metals. The first step in producing a metal is to crush the ore into small pieces. The next step is to purify, or clean, the ore.

Metallurgists then take apart the chemical compound that contains the metal. Sometimes they heat the ore so that the chemical elements separate and liquid metal flows out. This process is called smelting. Metallurgists also use electricity and chemicals to separate metal from ore.

Workers then shape the metal. They may shape it by pouring it into a mold, hammering it on a hard surface, rolling it into sheets, or forcing it through openings.

Alloys

Metallurgists sometimes melt metals and mix them together with other metals or with nonmetals. This produces new metals called alloys. Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. An alloy has different characteristics than a metal alone. It may be stronger or stand up better to heat.

History

Gold and copper were the first metals to be discovered. Then came silver, lead, tin, iron, and mercury. At first, people simply hammered metals into shape. Then they learned to melt metals and pour them into molds. More than 5,000 years ago, people made the first alloy—bronze. They used it to make tools and weapons. More than 3,000 years ago, people learned to purify iron, which is stronger than bronze.

During the Middle Ages (500–1500 ce) people called alchemists tried to change lead and other metals into gold. They did not succeed, but they found out many things about metals. Modern scientists have discovered many new metals and have learned to use metals in many new ways.

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