Alloys. Also, I’m a nerd.

Maybe it’s because I’m kind of weird and nerdy, but today I was thinking about alloys.  I couldn’t quite remember what metals were used to make brass.  I was initially thinking it was copper and tin, but I was pretty sure that was bronze (speaking of which is bronze even used anymore? Like, for anything?).  So I Wikipedia’d it.  And yeah, Wikipedia is now a verb, just like Google.  Turns out it’s copper and zinc – who knew.

And because I was then more curious about alloys in general, I found this list of alloys on Wikipedia.  Now, there are tons of alloys out there, mainly ones I’ve never heard of, but there are quite a few common ones that I’m going to list as my own personal reference for when I think about alloys again.  And yes, I’m pretty sure that actually will happen at some point.

Brass – Copper, Zinc

Bronze – Copper, Tin, aluminum or another element

White Gold – Gold, Nickel, Palladium (I always wondered what white gold was)

Stainless Steel – Iron, Carbon, Chromium, Nickel

Tool Steel – Iron, Carbon, Tungsten or Manganese

Solder – Lead, Tin (I also always wondered what this actually was made of.  If I had to guess, it would have been these two metals)

Sterling Silver – Silver, Copper

Pewter – Tin, Lead, Copper (never knew what this was really)

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