Jenna, Ages in history

The ages of history is discussed in chapter one, section eighteen of “Chemistry in Your Life”. Though this was an extremely short section, it was still very informational. This particular section talks about how people from the Stone Age began to make use of gold, silver, and copper that was found. Beginning with copper, it was actually one of the first metals ever used. People then began to notice certain characteristics about copper that allowed them to make and create objects of all sorts. After realization that objects could be made form copper, more and more became available to the people. During extraction, copper and tin ore accidentally got mixed together creating bronze. Bronze then became the “preferred material” due to the fact that it was easier to melt and shape. Thus, the Bronze Age began. The fabrication of metal requires liquid form. Iron was the next metal to be discovered, however, it does not become a liquid so it required a more advanced technological process to take place. This brought rise to the Iron Age.

Some words that I was not all that familiar with included: sickles, ores, optimum, and rudimentary.

Sickles: a short-handled implement with a curved blade used for cutting tall grass or grain.
Ores: rock mixtures of metal-containing compounds with other components.
Optimum: the best out of a number of several options or outcomes.
Rudimentary: existing at an elementary or basic level.

This particular section was, once again, extremely informative. It was actually quite interesting to learn about how the different ages in history came about. In all honesty, I have heard about these ages in history repeatedly throughout my years of school, but I never really knew how they came into existence or how they each got their particular names. That bit of information apparently got overlooked over and over again. It was also interesting to me how iron and bronze came to be through accidental discoveries and mishaps. This section in general was extremely interesting.

Baird, Colin. “Chemistry in Your Life”. Second Edition. W.H. Freeman and Company, New York. 2006. 23-24.