Alloy Facts

The WW2 MK14 torpedo used by America was 80% unreliable with most of them exploding not at all, too early or in the wrong position. Light & strong alloys were needed to fix the detonator issues, initially obtained ironically from a shot down Japanese fighter at Pearl Harbour. warfarehistorynetwork.com…

UK was first country to research nuclear weapons, codenamrd Tube Alloys, which was merged with Manhattan Project, later on. But later on the US refused to provide all information regarding nuclear bomb to the UK. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tub…

A bell made from pewter will not ring clearly at room temperature because the alloy is too soft. However, if cooled in liquid nitrogen, the pewter will harden enough that the bell will ring. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pew…

About aurichalcum (AKA orichalcum), a "lost" precious metal written of in ancient times and now gone to legend. It was considered second in value to gold. The word is used among present-day coin collectors to describe a certain alloy of brass used in Roman-era sestertius and dupondius coins. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ori…

Braces use a shape memory alloy that activate in response to body heat. The pulling sensation you feel is the metal trying to get back to its original shape. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…

In the Early Bronze Age bronze was made of copper and arsenic rather than copper and tin, due to the scarcity of sites where tin can be mined. Only after improvements in long-distance trade the copper-tin alloy became dominant. makin-metals.com/about/hi…

The kg is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype of the Kilogram (IPK), a block of platinum-iridium alloy manufactured in 1889 and stored at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Sèvres, France. metric-conversions.org/we…

The first Zildjian cymbals were created in 1618 by Avedis Zildjian, an alchemist who was looking for a way to turn base metal into gold. He made an alloy of tin, copper, and silver into a sheet of metal, which could make musical sounds without shattering. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ave…

Electrum is a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver. It was used as early as the third millennium BCE in Egypt, as an exterior coating to the pyramidions atop pyramids and obelisks. The first metal coins ever made were of electrum and for a few decades, the Nobel Prize medals were too. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ele…

Scientists have figured out how to make wood that is stronger and tougher than steel alloys physicsworld.com/a/wood-b…

Electrum is the alloy of silver and gold, and humanity's first metal coins were made out of it. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ele…

Dental amalgam is a liquid mercury and metal alloy mixture used in dentistry to fill cavities caused by tooth decay. Use of amalgam for dentistry dates as far back as 659AD in the Tang Dynasty. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ama…

Brass, Copper and some other alloys, when used as door knobs in hospitals, kill bacteria, even antibiotic ones such as MRSA far faster than steel and aluminium due to the Oligodynamic Effect news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/healt…

Aluminum beverages cans are made from two parts each from a different alloy and the molten down cans are not suitable to be recycled into either parts without further processing. green.blogs.nytimes.com/2…

"black gold" is actually a thing, and it can apparently be created via alloys, electroplating, and other methods. Apparently, it's even used for wedding bands. jewelryshoppingguide.com/…

Rosin core solder can actually expire... Flux cored solder wire has a limited shelf life determined by the alloy used in the wire. For alloys with more than 70% lead, the shelf life is two years from date of manufacture. Others have a shelf life of three years from date of manufacture. evilmadscientist.com/2013…

Electrum is a naturally occurring alloy of Silver and Gold. (And not just currency in D&D) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ele…

: we finally developed a new steel alloy as light as titanium! newatlas.com/steel-alloy-…

Today I learned about the Lydian stater, which was the official currency of the Lydian empire and the first coinage ever minted. First cast around 600 b.c. from Electrum, a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver, they are some of the rarest coins on earth. ancient.eu/amp/2-797/

In an 1855 letter, Abraham Lincoln feared the "Know-Nothings" would expand discrimination, "I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty -- to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy" abrahamlincolnonline.org/…

Zildjian , the largest cymbal producer, was founded in 1623 by an alchemist. He was attempting to turn metals to gold and accidentally made an alloy which made cymbals better. The business mainly made noisemakers for the Ottoman Army. A family member founded the 2nd biggest cymbal brand. zildjian.com/information/…

There's an alloy that purifies water while generating electricity, and is completely renewable. innovationnewsdaily.com/a…

The Shadwell forgeries forged medieval lead and lead-alloy artefacts between 1857 and 1870. Today the forged pieces are worth more than the real medieval pieces they tried to imitate, and interest in the forged pieces by collectors and museums has led to modern fakes of the forged items. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sha…

The standard used to represent a kilogram is a cylinder of platinum-iridium alloy stored in France youtube.com/watch?v=ZMByI…

Until recently, the kilogram was defined by the "International Prototype Kilogram" (IPK) , a platinum-alloy cylinder made in 1889. From May 2019, a Kibble balance was used to link it to Planck's constant (because the weight of the IPK was changing subtly over time). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/201…

Today I learned about low-background metals, primarily alloys that were produced prior to the first nuclear detonations in the 1940s and are incredibly useful for devices used to detect radionuclides. good.is/articles/the-sear…

The Grammy Awards are Made of Gold Plated Grammium, a Proprietary Metal Alloy, Whose Composition is Known Only to the Maker of the Awards youtu.be/ZU_0z49pCQk?t=28…

A smart alloy, such as NiTi, is a metal that has shape memory. The metal can have a shape "set", become deformed, then return to its original "set" shape once heat is applied. en.wikipedia.org/w/index.…

George Washington had teeth of Cow , Horse , Ivory , Lead-tin Alloy , Copper Alloy in his denture. He also purchased 9 teeth from African-Americans for 122 shillings. mountvernon.org/george-wa…

Copper and alloys of it such as brass self sterilise. Within two hours, the metal will kill 99.9% of germs. Check out the clinical trials...

Osmium is twice as dense as lead and used to create strong alloys for fountain tip pens rsc.org/periodic-table/el…

Copper and its alloys (brasses, bronzes, cupronickel, copper-nickel-zinc, and others) are natural antimicrobial materials. These materials kill a wide variety of bacteria, viruses, and fungi within hours making them ideal for doorknobs, handles, coins, and other frequently handled objects. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant…

The Grammy Award is cast from a proprietary zinc alloy named “Grammium” billboard.com/articles/ne…

Today I learned of the Rosetta Project, a program to record and preserve 1,500 different languages. It will be available in three different media, a micro-etched nickel alloy disc three inches across with a 2,000 year life expectancy; a single volume reference book; and an online archive. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ros…

The British version of the Manhattan Project was named 'Tube Alloys'. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tub…

"Orichalcum" is apparently an actual real-world alloy, not just a fictional supermetal en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ori…

Scientists had a breakthrough in Steel-making methodology called "B2-Dispersion" that has so far created ::Super-Steel Alloys:: 13% less dense than traditional steel & harder, that would bend (important), not break under pressure. The alloys so far are equal to Titanium! mining.com/biggest-steel-…

There is a Swedish copper alloy called Nordic Gold which is non-allergenic, antimicrobial and antimycotic used for some coins in Europe en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nor…

Tannoy is actually the brand name of a loudspeaker company, not a generic term. The name is an abbreviation of 'tantalum alloy'. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tan…

Nitinol is a metal alloy that can "remember" its previous shape. Shape memory is the ability of nitinol to undergo deformation at one temperature, then recover its original, undeformed shape upon heating above its "transformation temperature". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nic…

'Aircraft Grade Aluminum' is actually a very common aluminum alloy that's also used in soda cans. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/606…

From 1889 to 1960 the meter was defined as the length of a platinum-iridium alloy bar, known as the International Prototype Meter bar. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pla…

'Mag wheels' is actually short for magnesium alloy wheels. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All…

Today I learned of Corinthian Bronze - a metal that was priceless in the ancient world and was an alloy of copper, bronze and gold. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cor…

The lightest structural material known is Metallic Microlattice. It is less dense than the rarest aerogels and is about hundred times lighter than Styrofoam. "...consists of a highly controlled, ordered network of interconnected hollow struts made from a nickel-phosphorus alloy." rsc.org/chemistryworld/ne…

Medals awarded to winners of the Nobel Prize actually consist mainly of electrum, an alloy of 80% gold and 20% silver, due to its structural superiority to solid gold. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ele…

The world's first coins were made by King Alyattes in Lydia (Turkey) in 600 BC and were made of a gold/silver alloy. oldestcoins.reidgold.com/…

Weapons contractors worked on an alternative to depleted uranium rounds in 2005, due to concerns over extreme toxicity. However, the trials with such alloys as tungsten-cobalt and tungsten-nickel-cobalt proved to be even more toxic, generating cancer in 100% of test rats. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dep…

Today I learned some alloys can remember their previous shape en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sha…

Sharks don't like magnets, and there is a company that sells shark repellent alloys repelsharks.com/index.php…