Interesting facts about metals Is a great opportunity to learn more about materials used in industry and domestic purposes. They differ in strength, value, thermal conductivity and many other characteristics. Some are found naturally, while others are chemically mined.
So, here are the most interesting facts about metals.
- Silver is the oldest mineral. During archaeological excavations, scientists managed to find silver objects that had lain in the ground for 6 millennia.
- In reality, the "gold" Olympic medals are 95-99% made of silver.
- The edges of the coins, which have shallow cuts - the rims, owe their appearance to the genius Isaac Newton, who worked for some time at the Royal Mint of Great Britain (see interesting facts about Great Britain).
- Gurts began to be used in coinage to combat fraudsters. Thanks to the notches, the crooks could not reduce the size of the coin, made of precious metal.
- In the entire history of mankind, approximately 166,000 tons of gold have been mined, which at today's exchange rate is equivalent to $ 9 trillion. However, scientists say that more than 80% of the yellow metal is still found in the bowels of our planet.
- Did you know that every 45 minutes as much iron is extracted from the bowels of the earth as gold has been mined in history?
- The composition of gold jewelry contains impurities of copper or silver, otherwise they would be too soft.
- An interesting fact is that the French film actor Michel Lotito gained fame as a person who ate "inedible" things. There is a version that in his performances he ate up to 9 tons of different metals in total.
- The cost of making all Russian coins, up to 5 rubles, exceeds their face value. For example, the production of 5 kopecks costs the state 71 kopecks.
- For a long period of time, platinum cost 2 times less than silver and was not used due to the refractoriness of the metal. As of today, the price of platinum is hundreds of times the price of silver.
- The lightest metal is lithium, which has a density half that of water.
- It is curious that once expensive aluminum (see interesting facts about aluminum), today is the most common metal on the planet.
- Titanium is currently considered the toughest metal in the world.
- It is scientifically proven fact that silver kills bacteria.
