Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-08-01
Some s strange etals
Some 81 The metals which geem t.

|S@f Some on 81 the metals WHICH Seem Ia
lmiliar enough TO the chemist, though
rarely seen % Inside his laboratory, have
So little ia common with the metals Of
every day Life 81 70 scarcely seem to be-.
long to the same class Of substances
We commonly think Of 4 metal as being.
heavy, yet sodium and potassium will
/ float Oh water, and lithium is the light
est Of ali known solids. The fact is
that the word meta" is one Of the
hardest III the language to define. The
metals all have q peculiar lustre, to be
sure, which from its association, has
come 10 be called metallic; 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 themetals give good
reasons Tor placing these substances by
themselves, though even here the Lines
are not clearly marked.
One of the most distinctive properties
Of tile metals is their power to form,
when combined with acids, q class OF
bodies called salts, on account OF their
resem bIance to the common salt, which
contains about forty per cent. Of the
metal sodium. This metal is q blush.
white, waxy solid, and has such great
tendency to rust, or unite with the oxy-
gen in the air, that il mlst be kept IN
some oil, like petrol cum, whick contains
no oxygen. { 5 $..z. Ia "a: &
If a bit of sodium be thrown upon a
piece Of ice, the metal takes fire, and
any attempt to put it out by pouring
water on it would only be adding fuel
to the fame E aa>:f % :.
The sodium match is an application
of this peculiar property Of the metal.
It is merely q bit Of wood tipped with
sodium, and which can, of course, be
lighted on the stormiest day by the
mere contact of q rain drop. The
matches are, however, decidedly danger
GUS, and their manufacture is generally
prohibited. ~ sAE
+ Potassium, which is obtained from
potash, is another metal very similar to
sodium, and will take fire upon ice
or water even more rapidly than this
last. named metal a small piece of
potassium thrown into a jar Of water
apparently takes fire at once, and
swin1s about with great rapidity, burn
ing all the time With brilliant violet
fame.
One may be forgiven if his ideas on
com bustion are somewhat upset by the
first sight OF this phenomenon, but there
is really nothing very strange about it.
Water is Il compound OF hydrogen and
oxygen. and these metals, sodium and
potassium, have SO strong an attraction
for oxygen that they will take it wher-
ever they can find it, even from water.
This, of course, sets the hydrogen
free, which is set on fire by the heat
given off 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 hydro
gen rather than the metal.
Sodium, potassium and hthium, with
several other metals, form group known
as the alkai metals. There is an
other group, to which iron belongs,
which contains an interesting member
called aluminium, sometime Alumni
um, from it's occurrence in common
alum
Aluminium is beautiful metal, much
like silver in appearance, and possess
ing many valuable properties. It is very
sonorous, easily worked, does not tarnish
in the air, and is only about one-fonrth as
heavy as silver. It conducts eight times
better than iron.
Added to this, it occurs il greater
quantity than any other metal in the
world. Every clay bank, every granite
bed, is a mine of aluminium, but as yet
no cheap and ready means of obtaining
the metal has been found, in spite of all
attempts. r4g--
Napoleon offered a large reward to
any one discovering such process, es,
on account OF it's 6ghtness, he wished
! 10 use the metal in his army for helmets
and cuirasses.
It is hardly possible to give al exact
statement Of tho amount of aluminium
in different clays, since the composition
Of these earths varies greatly. Clavs
are impure silicates Of aluminium and,
generally speaking, a good brick clay
! contains tenth or more by weight of
the metal This would be sufficient to
plate theupper surface of the bricks,
as they are commonly laid in sidewalks,
with a layer Of metallic aluminium
fifth Of an inch deep.
| Or this same amount of metal would
form layer one third of an inch deep
on the outside Of the bricks as they are
laid in our houses. Sowe find this MD
/ den metal everywhere about us, and a
! brincely fortune awaits the man who