Do you know how to melt metal?

How did man find metal,how did he know what rock an how to melt it?

• Answer:

  Paul B has a good answer but to add some detail... There are only a few metals that occur as metal, all the others occur as compounds of oxides, sulfides, carbonates, etc. Cu, Au, and Ag can be found in some places. In addition, some meteorites are metallic, usually Fe-Ni. Early humans had fire so, depending on where they lived, there was a good chance that, every now and then, they would make a fire among rocks which contained metallic minerals that could be reduced at the temperature and in the atmosphere created by a wood fire. Bronze, an alloy of Cu and Zn, is created when Cu-Zn ore is reduced. This ore was fairly common and humans soon figured out how to reduce this ore to metal in reasonable quantities. This is what defines the transition from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. As time went on, humans also discovered "rocks" that burn (coal) and realized that coal fires could reach higher temperatures and, therefore, reduce different ores. This is what led to the Iron Age. As is still true today, some of these technology developments were driven by war. A good iron sword could literally cut a bronze sword in half. The alchemists and sword makers (early metallurgists) who knew how to make iron swords had repeat customers while the bronze sword makers ran out of customers. hope this helps