Metals of antiquity

The metals of antiquity are the seven metals which humans had identified and found use for in prehistoric times: gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, iron, and mercury. These seven are the metals from which the modern world was forged; until the discovery of arsenic in the 13th century, these were the only known elemental metals, compared to the 86 known today.

Characteristics

Melting point

The metals of antiquity generally have low melting points, with iron being the exception.

  • Mercury melts at −38.829 °C (-37.89 °F)[1] (being liquid at room temperature).
  • Tin melts at 231 °C (449 °F)[1]
  • Lead melts at 327 °C (621 °F)[1]
  • Silver at 961 °C (1763 °F)[1]
  • Gold at 1064 °C (1947 °F)[1]
  • Copper at 1084 °C (1984 °F)[1]
  • Iron is the outlier at 1538 °C (2800 °F),[1] making it essentially impossible to melt in antiquity.

Extraction

While all the metals of antiquity but tin and lead occur natively, only gold and silver are commonly found as the native metal.

  • Gold and silver occur frequently in their native form
  • Mercury compounds are reduced to elemental mercury simply by low-temperature heating (500 °C).
  • Tin and iron occur as oxides and can be reduced with carbon monoxide (produced by, for example, burning charcoal) at 900 °C.
  • Copper and lead compounds can be roasted to produce the oxides, which are then reduced with carbon monoxide at 900 °C.

Rarity

While widely known during antiquity, these metals are by no means common.

  • Iron is the 4th (4.1% by mass)
  • Copper is next at 26th (50ppm)
  • Lead is 37th (14ppm)
  • Tin is 49th (2.2ppm)
  • Silver is 65th (70ppb)
  • Mercury is 66th (50ppb)
  • Gold is the 72nd (1.1ppb)

Yet all were known and available in tangible quantities in ancient times.

See also

Symbolism

Each of the metals was associated with one of the seven then-known celestial bodies, and one of the seven days of the week.[2]

Metal Body Day of week
GoldSunSunday
SilverMoonMonday
IronMarsTuesday
MercuryMercuryWednesday
TinJupiterThursday
CopperVenusFriday
LeadSaturnSaturday

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Winter, Mark. "The periodic table of the elements by WebElements". www.webelements.com.
  2. ↑ Gwen Foss (1998). The Book of Numbered Lists. JSA Publications. p. 186.
  • "History of Metals". Archived from the original on 2007-01-08.
  • Nick Kollerstrom. "The Metal-Planet Affinities - The Sevenfold Pattern". Retrieved 2011-02-17.

Further reading

  • http://www.webelements.com/ cited from these sources:
    • A.M. James and M.P. Lord in Macmillan's Chemical and Physical Data, Macmillan, London, UK, 1992.
    • G.W.C. Kaye and T.H. Laby in Tables of physical and chemical constants, Longman, London, UK, 15th edition, 1993.
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