The Growth of Metallurgy-the progression

Stibium or antimony sulphide was roasted in an iron pot to form antimony. Agricola reported this technique in 1560. Antimony whose names comes from the Greek " anti plus monos "- a metal not found alone, has as its synbol Sb from the latin stibium.

It was found by Albertus Magnus. Arsencius (aresnious oxide) when heated with twice its weight of soap became metallic. arsenious oxide was being produced by charcoal. Arsenic is steel gary, very brittle and crystalline; it tarnishes in air and when heated rapidly forms arseniuos oxide with the odor of garlic.

it was known to the Chinses in 1400; however , it was not until 1738, when William Champion patented the zinc distillation process, that Zinc came into common use.

zinc was known to the chinese in 1400: however, it was not until 1738, when William Champion pateneted the zinc distillation process, that zinc came into common use.

Although not 100% pure, it was the first medal to be discovered and sourced from the "New World" . The property which brought this metal to the prospectors attention was its lack of reactivity with known

The Swedish chemist , Berzelius, found that the metals contained in lime and bartya (barium oxide) could also be separated in this way. He used mercury as a cathode which caused the separated metals to dissolve in the mercury. After electrolysis the mercury was distilled away and Calcium and Barium were left behind.

Sir Humphrey Davy used the generating pile developed by Volta and demonstrated that water could be decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen. Next he tried a solution containing potash at the negative electrode something that burned brightly. His next experiment was decisive, he placed the potash on an insulated platinum dish which was connected to the negative pole of the battery. He then connected the positive pole to the upper surface of the potash and produced small metallic globules therefore he created Potassium and Sodium.

Davy produced strontium by the same technique. by allowing the manufacture of sodium and potassium Davy and Berzelius had opened the door to the reduction of many refractory materials.

Stroymeyer noted that zinc carbonate had a yellowish tinge not attributable to iron. Upon reduction he thought that the alloy contained two metals. The metals were separated by fractional distillation. At 800 C, as cadmiums boiling point is lower than zinc, the cadmium distilled first.

Charles Askin developed a method of separating cobalt and nickel when both metals are in solution. Using a quantity of bleaching powder he found that if the gauntity of powder was small enough only cobalt oxide was precipitated and separated. The nickel could then be easily precipitated with lime and a source for pure cobalt and nickel was available. Pure cobalt oxide revolutionized the pottery industry as the blues were now available.