Relationship Between Metals and
Their Discovery
By: Ghaida Odah 8C
Introduction
In this presentation we are going to investigate
the relationship between the reactivity of a metal
and the date of it’s discovery. I think that the
more reactive the metal is the later on it was
found because the least reactive metals like gold
and platinum to not tarnish or turn dull and they
are found on the earth’s crust uncombined with
other elements so people would find shiny pieces
of the on the ground or in streams even if they
were rare like gold.
Reactivity Series
Potassium
Discovery
Potassium is a very reactive alkaline metal
that was discovered and isolated from
potash in 1807 by English Chemist Sir
Humphrey Davy. Due to the difficulty of
extracting potassium found in minerals the
English chemist developed a new method
for extracting potassium.
Extraction
In order to extract potassium English
chemist Davy used a new method of
isolating elements that he had invented,
electrolysis. In electrolysis, an electric
current is passed through a melted
compound causing the compound to break
into its elements
Properties
Uses
•Soft
•Dense
•Very Reactive
• Low Melting point of 63°C
• Boiling Point of 770°C
• Good conductor of heat
• Good conductor of electricity
• Fertilizers
• Fireworks
• Neutralization of acids
• Used as a medium for heat transfer
• Used in inks, dyes, safety matches, fly
paper etc.
• Used in gold mining
Sodium
Discovery
Sodium is a very reactive alkali metal but its
still less reactive than potassium. It was
also discovered in 1807 by Sir Humphrey
Davy. The reason it wasn’t discovered until
then is because it attaches itself to other
elements so it’s hard to break apart so Sir
Humphrey needed to use a new method.
Extraction
Extracting the pure sodium metal needs
electrolysis just like potassium. Since there
isn’t much demand for the sodium metal
but rather for sodium compound different
methods are used like the chloralkali
process which is one of the most important
industrial processes used today.
Properties
Uses
• Ordinary table salt
• Baking Soda
• Baking Powder
• Household products (soap/detergents)
• Aspirin and other drugs
• Heat exchange medium in nuclear power
plants.
• Soft
• Shiny
• Very Reactive (water, oxygen, snow)
• Melting point of 97.82°C
• Boiling Point of 881.4°C
• Low density
• Good conductor of electricity
Calcium
Discovery
Calcium is a reactive alkaline earth metal
commonly found in the earth’s crust.
Calcium was used for hundreds of years but
wasn’t prepared in pure form until 1808 by
Sir Humphrey Davy. The same method that
was used for the extraction of potassium
and sodium was used for calcium
Extraction
Just like sodium the calcium metal wasn’t
really in demand but it’s compounds were.
The calcium metal is obtained using
electrolysis but most calcium compounds
are found all around the world such as
limestone which is one of the most
important chemicals in the world.
Properties
Uses
• Hard
• Dense
• Very Reactive
• Melting point of 850°C
• Boiling Point of 1440°C
• Light weight
• Good conductor of electricity
• Fertilizers
• Fireworks
• Neutralization of acids
• Used as a medium for heat transfer
• Used in inks, dyes, safety matches, fly
paper etc.
• Used in gold mining
Magnesium
Discovery
Magnesium is a an alkaline earth metal in
Group 2 of the periodic table. In 1755
magnesia was found which was a
compound. Centuries before that humans
used magnesium compounds. It wasn’t
until 1808 when Sir Humphrey Davy
isolated the element.
Properties
• Hard
• Light ( lightest of all structural metals)
• Fabricated
• Melting point of 651°C
• Boiling Point of 1100°C
• Fairly Reactive
• Good conductor of heat and electricity
Extraction
There are two methods for extracting
magnesium. The first method is by using
electrolysis just like some of the other
metals mentioned earlier. The second
method involves reacting magnesium oxide
with ferrosilicon which is an alloy of iron
silicon.
Uses
• Alloys for airplanes and automobiles
• Fireworks
• Metal luggage
• Cameras
• Power Tools
• Gardening equipment
• Ladders
Aluminum
Discovery
Aluminum is a metal found in the periodic
table in Group 13. Aluminum occurs
naturally in compounds never as a pure
metal so it is quite difficult to extract so
pure aluminum so the element on it’s own
wasn’t discovered until about 1825 by Hans
Christian Oersted.
Extraction
About a hundred years ago extracting
aluminum was very hard and expensive but
nowadays aluminum can be extracted
using 2 steps. The first step is separating
aluminum oxide from bauxite using the
Bayer then by treating the aluminum oxide
using a process similar to the Hall method.
Properties
Uses
• Aircrafts and airplanes
• Chemical equipment
• Aluminum alloys used in everyday kitchen
utensils
• Car and truck manufacturers
• Soft drink cans
•Paint tubes
• Dense
• Malleable
• Ductile
• Melting point of 660°C
• Boiling Point of 2327-2450°C
• Good conductor of electricity
•Light Weighted
Zinc
Discovery
Zinc, according to records was discovered
by German scientist Andrea Margraf in
1746, though many historians agree that it
was used by ancient people long ago. Some
scientists say that it was alloys of zinc that
people were familiar with not the element
on its own. Nobody is absolutely sure.
Properties
• Fairly soft
• Dense
• Fairly Reactive
• Melting point of 419.5°C
• Boiling Point of 908°C
• Malleable at 100 to 150°C
• Reasonable conductor of electricity
Extraction
There are two ways to extracting zinc. The
first method is by heating the zinc in air
which converts the zinc ore into a
compound of zinc and oxygen that can
then be separated by heating it with
charcoal. The second methods using
electrolysis which is used for a lot of
metals.
Uses
• Galvanizing
• Alloys such as brass
• Paint
• Rubber Products
• Floor Coverings
• Electrical Equipment
• Ointments
Copper
Discovery
Copper was one of the earliest elements
known to man. It is a transition metal.
Nobody knows who exactly discovered
Copper but some sources say that it was
discovered around 4200 B.C. but nobody is
absolutely sure so basically the date is
known to the ancients only.
Extraction
The method that is used to remove copper
from its ores depends on the kind of ore
used. Some methods take very long time
and don’t always leave us with copper that
is pure enough so electrolysis is used
commonly and by repeating it the copper
will become 99.9 percent pure.
Properties
Uses
• Soft
• Moderately reactive
• Ductile
• Melting point of 1083°C
• Boiling Point of 2595°C
• Excellent conductor of electricity
• Good conductor of heat
• Electrical wiring
• Roofs (from alloys of copper)
• Heating and Plumbing systems (from
alloys of copper)
• Bells (from alloys of copper)
• Saute and frying pans
• Gun metal (from alloys of copper)
Silver
Discovery
Silver has been classified as a precious
metal. It is a transition metal. It has been
used by humans for thousands of years.
The date of discovery and the discoverer
are not accurate but some sources say thet
silver was discovered in 4000 B.C. but
nobody is absolutely sure.
Properties
• Dense
• Malleable
• Ductile
• Melting point of 660°C
• Boiling Point of 2327-2450°C
• Excellent conductor of electricity
•Light Weighted
Extraction
Silver often occurs as a free element in
nature and extracting it from its ores is
fairly easy. Ores rich in silver have
disappeared so it usually comes in small
amounts from the ores of other metals so
most of the time it’s left in the waste of a
metal and is extracted using electrolysis.
Uses
• Coins
• Jewelry
• Artwork
• Electrical and electronical equipment
• Silverware
•Photography
• Water purification
Gold
Discovery
Gold has been called the most beautiful of
all chemical elements. It was one of the
first pure metals to be used by humans.
The date of discovery and discoverer are
not accurate but gold objects dating 2600
B.C. have been found and some sources say
that it was found on 6000 B.C.
Extraction
There are at least two main ways to
remove gold from its ores. One is to mix an
ore with mercury metal. It combines with
the gold and forms and amalgam, which is
a mixture of two or more metals on of
which is mercury. Then the gold amalgam is
removed and heated giving us pure gold.
Properties
Uses
• Soft
• Malleable
• Ductile
• Melting point of 1064.76°C
• Boiling Point of 2700°C
• Dense
• Not very reactive
• Medals
• Jewelry
• Artwork
• Industries
• Medical (treating cancer/dentistry)
• Electronics (mobile phones and
computers)
Metal Discovery Timeline
Metal
Date of Discovery
Potassium
1807
Sodium
1807
Calcium
1808
Magnesium
1755
Aluminum
1825
Zinc
1746
Copper
4200 B.C.
Silver
4000 B.C.
Gold
6000 B.C.
If you noticed in the picture earlier how
potassium, sodium, calcium and magnesium all
reacted with the water. Potassium reacted
violently so did sodium and calcium had some
sort of visible reaction while the rest of the
metals just sunk in the water. If you notice how
the metals that reacted the most were the ones
that were discovered latest which proves that
the more reactive the metal the later on it’s
discovered. Also the same thing happened with
the reaction with hydrochloric acid, the metals
that were most reactive were discovered latest.
Conclusion
Now before I started investigating the relationship I
thought that the more reactive the metal the later on
it was discovered and that was true for most of the
metals except for two of them.
Now Aluminum is less reactive than magnesium yet
it was discovered later on. After reading more about
the extraction of aluminum I realized that
aluminum was discovered before magnesium but
not as an element, as a compound and it took a lot
of time to come up with a way to isolate it and it cost
a lot while isolating magnesium was easier and
cheaper.
Another thing that caught my attention was how
copper is more reactive than silver but it was
discovered before silver. Again after reading more
about the extraction of both metals I found out that
1Silver was probably first discovered after gold and
copper. Gold and copper often occur as free elements
in nature. This sentence explained why silver was
discovered before copper. So basically my hypothesis
was correct but there were some exceptions that were
explained.
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