Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/431

 METAL 419 M6szaros soon after shared in the defeats at Szoreg (Aug. 5) and Temesvar (Aug. 9), and a few days later was an exile in Turkey. Ac- companying Kossuth to Widin, Shumla, and Kutaieh, he was allowed in May, 1851, to de- part for England. He lived for some time in France, went to the island of Jersey after the coup d'etat of Dec. 2, 1851, and in the summer of 1853 sailed to America, where he resided at Flushing, L. I., and was naturalized as an American citizen. At his death he was on his way to visit Switzerland. METAL (Gr. ^ra/Uov), a term including about 50 elementary substances which possess, either wholly or in part, certain well marked physical and chemical properties, of which the most universal and characteristic is lustre. The pe- culiar brilliancy and reflective power of the metals, which may be enhanced by polishing, results from their great opacity. The color of the metals is generally white with a grayish, bluish, or pinkish tint; copper and gold are the only exceptions. In extremely thin films some of the metals allow the passage of certain rays of light. Gold leaf transmits light of a faint greenish hue. Most of the metals have a high specific gravity, a property which was regarded as characteristic until the discovery of the alkaline metals, which are lighter than water. With the exception of arsenic, they may all be fused, the temperature required for fusion varying from 100 F. to the highest heat of the oxy-hydrogen blowpipe. Some of the metals may be volatilized. Mercury, the only liquid metal, is solidified at 39 F. Arsenic when heated passes directly into vapor without fusion. Most of the metals possess a certain mobility of particles that allows of their being extended or otherwise altered in form. The two nearly related properties of mallea- bility and ductility, resulting from this, are not possessed by the metals in the same degree. A few of them, as antimony, arsenic, and bis- muth, are decidedly brittle. Some assume a plastic condition before complete fusion, no- tably iron and platinum ; on this property de- pends the operation of welding. The strength of the metals is very dissimilar, iron in the form of wire being about 26 times as tenacious as lead. They are all conductors of heat and electricity, although differing widely in this respect. The metals at present known, with the name of the discoverer and date of dis- covery of each, together with their atomic weights, are given in the following table : METAL. Atomic weight. Discoverer. Date of discovery. ZillC Arsenic 65] 75 First mentioned byj Paracelsus | 16th ce ?S7' Cobalt 59 Brandt 1733 Platinum Nickel.... 197-4 59 Ulloa Cronstedt 1736 1751 Manganese 55 Gahn 1774 Molybdenum 96 Hjelm.. 1782 Tungsten (wolf- ( ram) ) Titanium 184 50 D'Elhujar Gregor. . 1788 1789 Yttrium 61-6 Gadolin 1794 Chromium Tellurium 52-2 128 Vauquelin Klaproth. 1797 1798 Niobium (colum- [94 Hatchett 1801 Tantalum ) 182 Ekeberg 1802 Palladium 106-6 Wollaston. 1808 Osmium Cerium 199 n Tennant Klaproth, Hisinger, 1808 j- 1808 Iridium Rhodium 198 1 104-4 Descotils and Tennant Wollaston 1808-4 1804 Potassium 89'1 Daw 1807 Sodium 28 1807 Barium 187 H 1808 Strontium 87-6 u 1808 Calcium. 40 u 1808 Lithium 1 11 1818 Cadmium Zirconium (beryl 112 I-89-6 Stromeyer .. Berzelius 1818 1824 Aluminum . . 1 27-4 Wohler 1827 Glucinum Thorium 9-4 115-7 Wohler and Bussy.... Berzelius 1828 1828 Magnesium .. 24 Davy 1828 Vanadium 51-8 Sefstrom 1830 Lanthanum 98'6 Mosander 1889 Uranium 120 Peligot 1840 Didymium 95 Mosander 1841 Erbium Ruthenium 112-6 104 Claus 1848 1846 Rubidium 85-4 Bunsen and Kirchhoff 1860 Caesium Thallium Indium 183 204 118-4 Crookes (Lamy) Reich and Richter.... 1860 1861 1863 METAL. Atomic weight. Discoverer. ents. H Date< discove Gold 197 108 200 63-4 207 118 56 210 122 Knc Bas wnto Jius V heanc alentini 15th centut Silver Mercury Copper Lead . Tin Iron Bismuth . Antimony With a few exceptions, the names and dates in the above list refer to the actual production of the metal. In many instances the metallic compounds were known and studied long be- fore the metal itself was isolated. Some of the rarer metals have never been prepared in a pure form. Pelopium, formerly enumerated among the metals, has been shown to have no existence ; and the existence of terbium is doubtful. The last four metals were discov- ered by means of the spectroscope. The fol- lowing tables exhibit the mutual relations of some of the more important metals in physical properties : SPECIFIC GRAVITIES. Lithium 0-593 Potassium 0-865 Sodium 0-972 Magnesium 1-750 Antimony 6-71 Chromium (cast) 6-81 Zinc 7-15 Tin 7-29 Iron (pure) 8-12 Nickel (forged) 8-67 Copper (cast) 8-92 Silver 10-50 Lead 11'85 Mercury 13-59 Gold 19-80 Platinum (fused) 21-15 TEMPERATURE OF FUSION. Mercury 39-44 C. Potassium + 62'50 Sodium 95-60 Tin 222 Lead 335 Zinc 412 Antimony 450 Silver 1000 Copper 1200 Gold 1200 Wrought iron. ... 1800 Platinum, fusible only by oxy- hydrogen blow- pipe.