Question:
Why does the iron age come after the bronze age?
Iron is a single element whereas bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. Why would ancient people know how to combine copper and tin while ignoring iron for many centuries? Why did it take so long for the iron age to come along? It makes me mad that the pyramids could have been built of stainless steel, while bronze is only good for making statues.
Answer:
The reason is because iron takes a much greater heat to smelt. Copper ores can be smelted in regular fires. To smelt iron, you need some specialized knowledge about how to get that fire hot enough. Once they started smelting copper, they probably experimented on other minerals and some eventually figured out that regular reddish dirt had within it a metal that was much harder than copper that they were familiar with.
A matter of energy and getting the energy required to do certain things. For bronze, a relatively simple fire did the trick. Copper melts at a little over 1000 degress celsius. You can get there with just a few changes to burning wood or charcoal. However, copper, in its pure form is relatively soft. It was relatively easy to add tin to it, and the metal formed (the alloy) is far harder than tin or copper alone. Tin was almost as common as copper, and, like copper, was often mined in a relatively pure state. Iron, on the other hand, tends to be hard (although sometimes brittle, as in cast iron). But it is seldom in a pure state, so one needs the technology to raise the temperature high enough to get rid of the impurities. It took generations to find fires hot enough to do this. And the pyramids are made of STONE, not metal. Working it was just as easy with bronze as it would have been with iron.
The ancients did NOT know how to combine copper and tin, they did not know that copper and tin are different elements, their periodic table consisted of earth, fire, wind and water. Previous answers have hit on the right idea. it is about the conditions required to achieve the chemical conversion from minerals to metallic form. There are deposits of ore that contain Cu and Sn. These minerals can be reduced to metallic form at the temperatures and reducing conditions achievable in wood fire. And. The melting point of bronze is lower than the melting point of pure copper. Bronze was not only good for making statues. It was used to make all sorts of things including pots, bowls, cups, knives, swords, etc. Have you ever tried to make a bowl of stone? The conditions required to smelt iron from iron ore are more difficult to achieve, require higher temperature and a better reducing atmosphere. Side note. There is much more iron ore on earth than bronze ore. What you get for your trouble (if you do it right) is a sword that can literally cut bronze swords in half. This means, if you are a swordsmith making steel swords, you have many more repeat customers. And. it took humans more than 1000 years after the beginning of the iron age to invent stainless steel.
The reason is because iron takes a much greater heat to smelt. Copper ores can be smelted in regular fires. To smelt iron, you need some specialized knowledge about how to get that fire hot enough. Once they started smelting copper, they probably experimented on other minerals and some eventually figured out that regular reddish dirt had within it a metal that was much harder than copper that they were familiar with.
A matter of energy and getting the energy required to do certain things. For bronze, a relatively simple fire did the trick. Copper melts at a little over 1000 degress celsius. You can get there with just a few changes to burning wood or charcoal. However, copper, in its pure form is relatively soft. It was relatively easy to add tin to it, and the metal formed (the alloy) is far harder than tin or copper alone. Tin was almost as common as copper, and, like copper, was often mined in a relatively pure state. Iron, on the other hand, tends to be hard (although sometimes brittle, as in cast iron). But it is seldom in a pure state, so one needs the technology to raise the temperature high enough to get rid of the impurities. It took generations to find fires hot enough to do this. And the pyramids are made of STONE, not metal. Working it was just as easy with bronze as it would have been with iron.
The ancients did NOT know how to combine copper and tin, they did not know that copper and tin are different elements, their periodic table consisted of earth, fire, wind and water. Previous answers have hit on the right idea. it is about the conditions required to achieve the chemical conversion from minerals to metallic form. There are deposits of ore that contain Cu and Sn. These minerals can be reduced to metallic form at the temperatures and reducing conditions achievable in wood fire. And. The melting point of bronze is lower than the melting point of pure copper. Bronze was not only good for making statues. It was used to make all sorts of things including pots, bowls, cups, knives, swords, etc. Have you ever tried to make a bowl of stone? The conditions required to smelt iron from iron ore are more difficult to achieve, require higher temperature and a better reducing atmosphere. Side note. There is much more iron ore on earth than bronze ore. What you get for your trouble (if you do it right) is a sword that can literally cut bronze swords in half. This means, if you are a swordsmith making steel swords, you have many more repeat customers. And. it took humans more than 1000 years after the beginning of the iron age to invent stainless steel.
