Difference between Bronze and Iron...?
1. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/bronze...
"With the exception of steel, bronze is superior to iron in nearly every application."
2. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/three-age_s...
[People switched from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age because] "no one would have wanted to use bronze tools if there had been iron ones around instead."
Maybe the second statement should refer to steel instead of (pure) iron. Did the Iron Age start with the use of pure iron, or did it start with steel? If it started with pure iron, then how was it an advantage over bronze? And if it started with steel, then shouldn't it be called the Steel Age instead of the Iron Age?
Answer:
You have valid arguments there. I guess you erased my earlier response. People switched from the Bronze age to Iron age becaue they learned how to use the iron correctly as the basis of steel and the steel tools lasted longer. I agree it should be the steel age. I am sure it started with them trying to use the pure iron as best they could, I would gather it was mostly unsuccessful until they experimented with adding stuff to the pure iron.Can you imagine making a sword out of pure iron. It would not hold an edge and would most likley fall apart when striking something.
iron is a metal that it is very soft and easily oxidized in air and it is not applied in industry , only in Lab , but bronze is an alloy that its base is copper for example zinc bronze , aluminium bronze,etc
For 1. while bronze may well have many advantages over pure iron, once reasonably effective iron smelting techniques were developed, iron had an advantage in cost and availability. Also, no doubt some small quantity of steel was manufactured even if only by accident, giving a material with superior hardness.
for 2, Looking at a larger quote; may help, "Thomsen and his predecessors argued that nobody would have used stone tools if bronze ones had been available, and that similarly, no one would have wanted to use bronze tools if there had been iron ones around instead."
If Thomsen and his predecessors were not metallurgists, they may have confused iron and steel. (Pretty much the point you made).
However, the iron age probably shouldn't be called the steel age because the majority of the metal used was iron. The rare and variable quality steel was only used where necessary, relatively small pieces being welded onto cutting edges when required ,on tools that were mostly soft iron.
The answers post by the user, for information only, FunQA.com does not guarantee the right.
More Questions and Answers: