Where Do We Get Our Metal?

Nowadays, metal seems to be everywhere: in our bodies, our air, our food, our water, our clothes, our homes, our means of transportation, the very ground we stand on, and many other unlisted places of importance. Back in the old days, this situation was much the same. Where did it come from? Where will it go? Are we the perpetrators of a vicious cycle that slowly poisons the very fabric of society with these abhorrently shiny rocks? Who can we scapegoat for this? As it turns out, not all metal is bad for you, although large pointy metal embedded in your stomach cavity certainly could be. Where does the metal that forges our weapons of war come from? This is the only question this article will answer. You can find the answers to those other questions in your heart, especially if there is currently a large piece of metal in it right now, and red liquid seems to be escaping at an alarming rate. On to the article!

When the universe first came into bright and glorious existence, there was no metal. However, nowadays, metal is in fact something that exists. This is due to a complicated scientific process in which large explosions commit myriad misdemeanors and form themselves into rocks. According to the periodic table, 91 out of the current 118 discovered elements are metals. These metals and other unimportant substances suddenly and with great force remembered the existence of gravity, and collapsed into Earth. Earth, at least the solid part of it, is composed of around 60% metals, of which silicon is the most prominent, making up about 28.2% of the crust.

Silicon is actually a metalloid and a crucial part of sand and many modern appliances we take for granted, like computers. Sand is actually where most silicon is taken from, and is converted to silicon through the use of an electric arc furnace along with coke, a coal-adjacent carbon-rich fuel. When this process is performed in the presence of scrap iron, ferrosilicon is produced. This form of silicon makes up around 80% of all silicon produced and exported. However, in order to produce the pure silicon necessary for computers, there is a complicated chemical process that first creates silicon crystals and later pure silicon. 

Another metal that exists on this wonderful planet is known as iron. Iron makes up around 5.6% of the earth’s crust but only 0.11% of all matter overall, and it is the cornerstone of most of our industrial machinery. Iron is mostly used to make steel, which is put to work in buildings, such as the White House. It is very important to humanity because it figuratively and literally holds up civilization. Most iron is mined from mines by miners through one of the two types of mining: surface and underground mining. When you extract iron from surface mining, you create a large hole in the ground with explosives. If iron chunks are on the ground, you have struck iron, or as enterprising business fellows say, sweet, sweet profit. Underground mining is much less common since it requires mining underground, which requires digging through a lot more rock, along with the risk of the ceiling collapsing, and without the conveniences of surface mining. Most iron mines in the U.S. come from Minnesota, Michigan, and Utah. After iron has been obtained, it is turned from a rock into a form that is useful to builders who want to build large industrial factories using non-rocks. Iron ore is composed of both iron and oxygen, and the process of making it usable is really just the process of removing that oxygen and injecting other things to make it better. Smelting is one way to convert useless iron ore rocks into useful metallic iron. During the smelting process, coke powder is mixed with iron to form carbon monoxide in the air. This carbon monoxide interacts with iron ore and snatches oxygen repeatedly, forming carbon dioxide and leaving raw iron behind. This also involves the use of flux, materials that can react with impurities in the iron and remove them, making sure the iron is as profitable as possible before putting it on the ruthless free market. Steel is created by continuously casting iron to remove excess carbon, molding it until it becomes less weak. At present, 98% of all iron is made into steel because iron simply isn’t good enough for the bold, visionary industrialists of today.

Another metal that exists and is somewhat useful for people to use for things that are useful is known as aluminium (yes, this is indeed a valid spelling). Aluminium is certainly a part of the earth’s crust. It definitely exists. Around 8% of the earth’s crust, in fact, is made only of this very shiny metal that is undeniably inside of the earth’s crust and exists. Aluminium comes from bauxite, a rock. This rock is ground up, blended, mixed with chemicals, then cooled. The residue is then separated and precipitated, after which it turns into alumina. Alumina is subjected to the Hall–Héroult process, which mixes alumina with chemicals and then commits electricity on the poor unsuspecting mixture. This is then cast into aluminium billets, which are either square or circular. Aluminium is used for soda cans, vehicles, planes, and other common household items. Aluminium is rather light, which is a useful property for things that need to remain in the air, such as planes and spacecraft. It is also used in industrial machines because it is both light and strong. Most of aluminium’s cost comes from electricity, which certain people, especially in high-ranking offices, wish to minimize. Alternative processing methods, however, seem inefficient and costly. 

Metals are very important for life. Iron is in your blood at this very moment, having a fine time serving vital processes like creating proteins for your red blood cells. In fact, many metals are currently coursing through your veins, committing scandalous deeds and also slowly killing you if you let them develop into a mob. Today’s society needs metal to thrive, especially when there are hostile enemies to puncture with sharp things. The future is uncertain in some aspects, but it will likely have metal in it, and learning about this valuable resource will give you very important information the next time you need to know the chemical process by which the small metal orbs being launched at high speed during periods of extreme political discontent were formed.

Sources

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“Abundance of elements in Earth’s crust.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance_of_elements_in_Earth%27s_crust#List_of_abundance_by_element. Accessed 14 November 2024.

Davy, Humphry. “Aluminium.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium. Accessed 14 November 2024.

“The Importance of Iron in Your Body | American Red Cross.” Red Cross Blood Donation, 10 November 2021, https://www.redcrossblood.org/local-homepage/news/article/iron-in-blood.html. Accessed 14 November 2024.

“Iron mining in the United States.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_mining_in_the_United_States. Accessed 14 November 2024.

“ITP Mining: Energy and Environmental Profile of the U.S. Mining Industry: Chapter 4: Iron.” Department of Energy, https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2013/11/f4/iron.pdf. Accessed 7 November 2024.

Thomson, Thomas, and Robert Kerr. “Silicon.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon#Applications. Accessed 14 November 2024.

“23.1: Occurance and Distribution of Metals.” Chemistry LibreTexts, 8 September 2020, https://chem.libretexts.org/Courses/University_of_Missouri/MU%3A__1330H_(Keller)/23%3A_Metals_and_Metallurgy/23.1%3A_Occurance_and_Distribution_of__Metals. Accessed 7 November 2024.