Where is bronze found

Bronzes appeared in Egypt and China around BC. The earliest bronze moldings were made in sand, and this process is sometimes still used, even for casting bells.

At first, copper-arsenic alloys were used, but only for a short while. One disadvantage of this alloy was that the fumes emitted by arsenic during smelting tended to kill the metalsmiths.

Eventually, tin was found to be an ideal alloying agent for copper. The melting point of bronze is deg. C, compared to deg. C for pure copper. After its discovery in the Middle East , around BC iron , and later steel , quickly replaced bronze in the ancient world as the metal of choice for weaponry and industry because it is harder and more durable.

Today, bronze is used for making products ranging from household items such as doorknobs, drawer handles, clocks, and sculpture, but it is also still used in some industrial applications, such as engine parts, bearings, and wire. And of course, it is used in bells. The discovery of bronze through existing metallurgical techniques revolutionized the production of weapons and works of art. An important development of the Bronze Age was the evolution of metallurgy, which resulted in the discovery of bronze.

Certain metals, notably tin, lead and at a higher temperature copper, can be recovered from their ores by heating the rocks in a fire or blast furnace, a process known as smelting. The first evidence of this extractive metallurgy dates to Serbian sites from the fifth and sixth millennia BCE.

In approximately the fourth millennium BCE in Sumer, India, and China, it was discovered that combining copper and tin creates a superior metal, an alloy called bronze. This discovery represented the beginning of the Bronze Age, enabling people to create metal objects that were harder than previously possible.

Bronze tools, weapons, armor, and building materials such as decorative tiles were more durable than their stone and copper predecessors. Initially, bronze was made out of copper and arsenic, forming arsenic bronze, or from naturally or artificially mixed ores of copper and arsenic, with the earliest known artifacts coming from the Iranian plateau in the fifth millennium BCE. It was only later, approximately in BCE, that tin became the major non-copper ingredient of bronze.

Tin bronze was superior to arsenic bronze in that the alloying process could be more easily controlled and the resulting alloy was stronger and easier to cast.

Furthermore, unlike arsenic, metallic tin and fumes from tin refining are not toxic. In the Bronze Age, two forms of bronze were commonly used. Bladed weapons were mostly cast from classic bronze, while helmets and armor were hammered from mild bronze. The flag pictured below was also likely hammered from mild bronze. In many parts of the world, large hoards of bronze artifacts have been discovered, suggesting that bronze also represented a store of value and an indicator of social status.

In Europe large hoards of bronze tools, typically socketed axes with little to no signs of wear, have been found. Axes were the most valued tools of the period. Socketed axe blades. Archaeological Museum of the state of Brandenburg. Although bronze was originally used for producing weapons, metal workers soon applied the alloy to the production of art.

Among the oldest and most common method of producing bronze sculptures is through the lost wax process, which creates hollow one-of-a-kind sculptures in whatever form the artist chooses. Dancing Girl c. Although it is in a standing position, it was named Dancing Girl with an assumption of her profession. This is one of two bronze art works found at Mohenjodaro that show more flexible features when compared to other more formal poses.

The girl is naked, wears a number of bangles and a necklace, stands in a naturalistic position with her right hand on her hip, and holds an object in her left hand, which rests against her thigh.

National Museum, New Delhi. The culture is distinguished by its characteristic metal objects including ingot torques, flat axes, flat triangular daggers, bracelets with spiral-ends, disk- and paddle-headed pins, and curl rings, which are distributed over a wide area of Central Europe and beyond.

An interesting mixed media object from this culture is the Nebra Sky Disk c. These symbols have been interpreted generally as a sun or full moon, a lunar crescent , and stars including a cluster interpreted as the Pleiades.

Two golden arcs along the sides, marking the angle between the solstices, were added later. A final addition was another arc at the bottom surrounded with multiple strokes of uncertain meaning, variously interpreted as a solar barge with numerous oars, as the Milky Way, or as a rainbow. Likely produced through hammering, the disk is possibly an astronomical instrument as well as an item of religious significance. Nebra Sky Disk c. Pergamon Museum, Berlin. If it was used to make weapons for our ancestors more than 5, years ago, bronze was also used in the manufacture of watches.

Not for its beauty, but for its stability over time and the fact that it does not deform with temperature. Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest Mail. News Ticker. Experiments [ 13 August ] Why fear wolves? Animals [ 6 August ] How strong is gravity on Mars? Astronomy [ 6 August ] Isaac Newton: from the apple to the law of gravitation Astronomy. Home Chemistry How did we get to make bronze?

Bronze, a metallic alloy which allowed the development of weapons. Aluminium bronze is very hard and as such widely used in springs, bushings bearings and car gearbox bearings as well as being common in the bearings of smaller electric motors. Phosphor bronze 2. Unlike stainless steel, bronze will not generate sparks when struck against hard surfaces. This property makes it ideal for use in hammers, mallets and other tools used in environments containing flammable vapours, as oil rigs do.

How can we forget that bronze has also always been widely used in the manufacture of musical instruments? It is certainly the preferred material for bells and most cymbals are made from bronze. It is also used in windings of stringed instruments such as the guitar, harpsichord and of course the piano. Phosphor bronze is also sometimes used when making saxophones. Infographic: History of Bronze Timeline Bronze has a long history based in a wide variety of applications.

JPG Huolongjing, an early Chinese bronze cannon.