I think we are blessed to have iron and aluminum among the most abundant metals on earth.
Aluminum is among the lightest usable metal along with magnesium and beryllium. Lighter metals are alkali and alkaline earth metals, which are too
reactive for any use as building materials. Magnesium is borderline vis-a-vis reactivity, and beryllium is toxic. Without aluminum we might not have
planes! Or they might be made of titanium, which is twice the density, and difficult to obtain in metallic form.
Also we are lucky that iron can be smelted easily. It could have been too reactive to be reduced by charcoal. Or it could have melted at 2000 °C, a
temperature much more difficult to reach with a simple charcoal furnace. There could have been no iron age!
I could go on with silicon, but I think I made my point: our world could have been much less hospitable than it is, and our technology could be much
less advanced than it is, if it wasn't for a few "lucky coincidences".
EDIT:typo
[Edited on 4-5-2019 by Heptylene] |