Relationship Between a Metals Reactivity and When It Was Discovered

By: Dana AsaadClass: 8B

Teacher: Mr. Rhodes

The question is “Does a connection or relationship exist between the reactivity of a metal and when it was discovered?” Well to figure that out we would need to have a list of metals and, find out when each one was discovered. We would also need to figure out how reactive each metal is and later compare them. But before we do that lets learn a little more about each of these metals.

Periodic Table of Elements

Most elements in the periodic table are metals. Metals can be divided into separate groups alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, and transition metals. The transition metals can be divided into smaller groups, which are the lanthanides and actinides.

Important Facts on Metals

• The first metal to be discovered was Gold, followed by Copper and then Silver.

• There are 86 metals discovered so far out of 118 elements.

• Some Metals are uncombined in nature but the majority of metals are found combined in their ores. An ore is a rock which contains minerals including the many important elements including metals.

Next We Will Look At Different Properties of

The 3 First Metals Discovered

GoldGold is a soft, dark, quite heavy, shiny yellowish metal. Gold is used

all around the world by many people living in many different countries. The uses of gold right now are for, money, jewelry, and is now being used for tooth fillings. Many people use it for jewelry because of it’s great luster and beauty. Gold is also used to make electronic equipment like computers and even space equipment. The color of this metal is also called gold. Gold is also ductile and can be recycled and reused many times by a person. Gold is even a good conductor of electricity. Gold is found uncombined in nature which is probably why it was so easy for scientists to discover it.

CopperCopper was the second metal to be

discovered, in 4200BC. It is a good conductor of heat and was used to make the first metallic tools and weapons. Copper is also malleable which means it can bend, flex and easily be shaped without breaking or cracking. Copper can be rolled into sheets as thin as 1/500 of an inch. Copper is also ductile and can be drawn out into a thin wire. It isn’t very reactive and this is why we use copper for our house wiring.

Silver

Silver was the third metal to be discovered. It was discovered in 4000BC. Silver conducts electricity very well. Silver may be harder than Gold but it is very ductile and malleable. Silver is usually used as jewelry, dental alloys, silverware, and photography.

Metals of Antiquity

There are seven Metals of Antiquity which are• 1)Gold• 2) Copper• 3) Silver• 4) Lead• 5) Tin• 6) Iron• 7) Mercury

Metals Of AntiquityThere were 24 known metals discovered in the 19th century and, 12 of them were found in the 18th century. So therefore the other 12 elements which were discovered were elements that had been found before the 17th century ended. Arsenic, antimony, zinc, and bismuth were all discovered during the 1300s and the 1400s, but in the 1600s platinum was made or established into a metal. The Metals of Antiquity is basically a special category which includes 7 metals of the last 12 known metals. These 7 metals are known as Gold, Copper, Silver, Lead, Tin, smelted Iron and Mercury. The 7 metals of Antiquity are all found at the lower part of the reactivity series which means they aren’t very reactive. Although, the metal Iron is found in the middle of the reactivity series which means it is more reactive than the other 6 metals. Iron is found right above Tin and below Zinc in the reactivity series of metals.

Metals Discovered During The 18th Century

The metals which were discovered in the 18th are known as:

If you look carefully you will see a pattern which is that the earlier the metal was discovered the less reactive it is .

Metals Discovered in the 19th Century

These are some of the metals which were discovered during the 19th century.

Metals Discovered In the 19th Century Continued…..

Metals Discovered In the 20th Century

We still see the same pattern which means our theory is still true until now, but just to make sure we will do the same experiment but this time we will use fewer metals so that can see the pattern better.

Different Metals and When They Were Discovered

Next we will look at the reactivity of these metals

Reactivity of Metals

What We Notice

What we notice is that the metals, which were discovered earlier are the less reactive and the metals which were discovered later on in history.

Conclusion

The results from our previous experiments brings us to the conclusion that the less reactive a metal is, the earlier it was discovered and the metals that were discovered later on in history would have been more reactive. The reason for this is because the reactive metals were probably in a combined state which made it harder for scientists to extract it from its ore. For example, back then when gold was discovered they didn’t have modern technology like they did when they discovered potassium.

Conclusion Continuation

Therefore if they didn’t have modern technology they wouldn’t be able to get the more reactive metals because they would most likely be in combined state and harder to extract while less reactive metals like gold can easily be found freely in nature. The pattern does not always occur though. For example, in the reactivity series it says that Copper is more reactive than Silver but Silver was discovered after Copper. So this pattern does not always occur and the reason for this is because there is only a 200 year difference between both metals. So if it’s a short period of time like the example mentioned above with Silver and Copper, the rule still stays the same because as I said before they were discovered in the same time and century so there's not much of a difference between them.

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