The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1884-08-02
SOME STRANGE METALS.


Some of the metals which are fami-
liar enough to the chemist, though
rarely seen outside of his laboratory,
have SO little In common with the
metals OF every day life az to scarce
ly seem to belong to the same class
Of substances. We commonly think
of metal as being heavy, yet So
dium and potassium will float in wa
ter, and liihinm 10 the lightest of all
known solids. The. fact is that the
werd "metalo il Que OF the hardest
In the language to define. The met
ais all have peculiar lustre, to be
sure, which, from its association, has
come to be called nietalIic, but many
minerals, as galena and black lead,
which most certainly are not metals,
have the same appearance, and so on
through the list of properties. The
chemical relations of metals give
good reasons for placing these sub
stances by themselves, though even
here the lines are not clearly marked.
One Of the most distinctive proper
ties OF the metals Is their power to
form, when combined with acids, a
class of bodies called salts-On ac-
connt OF their resemblance To COIN
mon salt, which contains about forty
per cent. of The metal sodium. This
metal is a blush, white, waxy solid.
and has such great tendency TO rust,
or unite with the oxygen in the air,
that II must be kept in some oil, like
petrolsuIn, which contains no oxygen.
Ii u bit of sodium is thrown upon a
piece ef ice, the metal takes fire,
and any attempt TO put il out by
pouring water on II would only be
adding fuel to the flame.
The aodium-match is an applica-
ton Of the peculiar property of the
metal. II is merely . blt OF wood
tipped with sodium, and which can,
of course, be lighted on The stormiesL
day by the mere contact OF a ram
drop. The matches are, OF course,
decidedly dangerous, aud their man
facture Is generally prohibited.
Potassiunl, which Is obtained from
potash, is abother metal very similar
Lo sodium, and Will take nre upon
Ice or water even more readily Inan
this last-named metal. A small piece
III potassium thrown iuto 4 Jar of
water apparently takes lire at once,
aud swlnIs ABOUT WITH great rapldity,
burning all the Time With IA brilliant,
violet haIlIe.
One may be forgiven If his ideas
on combustion are sonIeM hat upset
by the first sight OF this phenomenon,
but there IL really nothing 30 very
strange about II. Water Is COM
pound oi hydrogen and oxygen, and
these metals, souium aud potassium,
have 80 strong an attraction for oxy-
gen That they will take il whenever
they can find II, even from water.
This, of course, sets the hydrogen
free, which is set OH fire by the heat
gwen of when the potassium and
oxygen unite, and burns with violet
color because of the vapor of the
metal. The same Is true in the case
OF sodium; the flame Is due to the
burning hydrygen, rather than the
metal.
Sodium, potassium and lithinm,
with several other metal-, form a
group known as the alkali metals.
There is another group, to which iron
belongs, which contains an interest
ing member called Aluminum-some-
times aluminium - from its occur
renee In commsn alum.
Aluminium Is beautiful metal,
much like silver in appearance, and
possessing many valuable properties.
1t Is very sonorons, easily worked,
does not tarnIsh in the air, and is
about one fourth rs heavy as silver.
1t conducts electricity eight times bet
ter than iron.
Added to this, 1t occurs in greater
quantity than any other metal in the
world. Every clay-bank, every gran
ite bed, Is mine OF aluminium, but
as yet no cheap and ready means
of obtaining the metal has been
found, in spite of all attempts.
Napoleon offered large reward to
any one discovering such q process,
as, on account OF its lightness he
wished to use the metal in his army
for helmets and cuirasses.
Ii Is hardly possible to give an ex-
act statement OF the amount OF alu-
minum in different clays, since the
composition of these earths varies
greatly. Clays are impure silicates Of
aluminium, and, generally speaking,
a good brick clay contains tenth or
more of the metal. This would be
sufficient to plate the upper surface