Magnesium is a hard, silvery-white metallic element that burns into a white flare when set fire.  Magnesium is used in making alloys, firecrackers, flash photography, and even bombs. The element got its name from a Greek region called Magnesia.  Magnesium is an alkaline Earth metal that belongs to the Group 2 elements in the Periodic Table.  Rocks contain the richest source of magnesium in nature. Discoverers of Magnesium Joseph Black of Scotland discovered magnesium in […]

Copper is naturally found in the soil. It is usually found together with sulfur. Copper metal is made by mining ores and refining them into copper cathode. In its pure form copper appears with a shade of pink and orange Copper’s atomic symbol is Cu. Earliest discoverers of Copper Copper is considered a prehistoric metal. There is evidence copper was used by the ancient people in the Americas as early as 1, 000 BC. In […]

The Romans knew calcium was a part of lime. But they could not take it out in its pure form. Instead they used calcium oxide to make lime.  In 975 AD calcium phosphate, or plaster of Paris, was used to paste back broken bones. Sir Humphry Davy of England separated it from lime through the process called electrolysis. He mixed lime with mercuric oxide and put electric current through it. Calcium floated up the surface […]

The invention of gunpowder has had one of the most profound influences on the history of warfare for the last thousand years, even though gunpowder was known to alchemists for another thousand years or more before the first use as an explosive in a military situation. Gunpowder is used in military applications such as cannons and rifles, as well as in fireworks, and is primarily made by mixing sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate into a […]