We weren’t there to see it, but we suppose that human life on Earth started as a simple thing, surrounded by a few chemical elements like air or water, the basic stuff that keeps us moving. However, evolution always comes to transform things… More complex elements like tungsten and antimony only started changing our life in the last decades, when their modern applications were discovered. However, despite their “short” life as a constant presence in electronic devices or even cosmetics, today our lifestyle hugely depends on them. It’s impossible to imagine a world without molybdenum or bismuth, because without them things like fire detectors or petroleum wouldn’t exist in the same forms they have now. Or they wouldn’t exist at all, for all we know.
Look at the example of tungsten, the element that kicked-off the presentation of the following infographic. This material retains its strength even when subjected to high temperatures. Due to its high melting point, tungsten is used in many applications like lamp filaments, thermionic valves and even rocket nozzles. Its properties also make tungsten suitable for aerospace and welding applications.
Because of its conductive properties and other characteristics, tungsten is also used in electrodes and to interconnect materials in integrated circuits, usually placed between the silicon dioxide and the transistors. Just to name a few applications that one simple element can have in the modern world… In other words, our lifestyle would be totally different if we didn’t have tungsten or any of its “friends”!
You could say bye-bye to your smartphone, modern television, the fire extinguisher in your building and even to your amazing cosmetics. It wouldn’t be life as we know it now, but rather something really different even without a ball mill.
Have we already convinced you to take a look at this infographic and learn more about these invisible helpers called chemical elements? We hope so!