--- title: Metals and what they're good for — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Metals and what they're good for», a lesson of the chemistry course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Leave a metal spoon in hot soup and soon the handle is too hot to hold, while a wooden spoon stays cool. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Chemistry](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/) / Metals and what they're good for # Metals and what they're good for Lesson 31 of the chemistry course of Mova's primary school: 19 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/0/) — Leave a metal spoon in hot soup and soon the handle is too hot to hold, while a wooden spoon stays cool. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/1/) — Metals pass heat along very well, and electricity too, which is why wires are copper inside their plastic coat. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/2/) — Metals are shiny, they ring when you strike them, and they can be bent and hammered into shape without shattering. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/4/) — Mixing metals makes alloys that are better than the pure metals: copper with tin makes bronze, and iron with a little carbon makes steel, strong enough for bridges. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/5/) — Most metals are dug out of rocks where they are joined to other elements and must be separated, which costs energy and scars the land. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/6/) — Only a few metals, such as gold, are found pure. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/7/) — Metals conduct heat well, so a metal spoon in hot soup gets hot while a wooden one stays cool. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/8/) — Copper conducts electricity very well, so electric wires are made of copper, while wood and plastic hardly let electricity through, which is why the wire has a plastic coat; copper pipes are also used because copper does not rust, though it slowly turns dull or green. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/9/) — Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin; it is harder than either metal, and the Bronze Age began over 5000 years ago. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/10/) — Steel is iron with a little carbon mixed in, which makes it much stronger; steel bridges need painting and regular checks for rust. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/11/) — Gold, silver and platinum are precious metals: rare, beautiful, and hardly reacting with air, although silver slowly tarnishes. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/12/) — Pure gold is so soft that it scratches easily, so most gold jewellery is gold mixed with other metals. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/13/) — Only a few metals are attracted by magnets: iron, nickel and cobalt, and steel because it is mostly iron; an aluminium drinks can is not. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/14/) — Some coins, such as British pennies made since 1992, are steel with a thin copper coat, so they stick to a magnet. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/15/) — Striking steel on flint knocks off tiny bits of steel made so hot by the blow that they burn as sparks; people lit fires this way long ago. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/16/) — Metals ring when struck because they pass vibrations on well; big bells are usually made of bronze. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/17/) — Most metals come from rocks called ores, dug out by mining, and mining can damage the land, which is one reason to recycle metals. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/18/) — Aluminium is about a third as heavy as steel of the same size, and titanium is strong and light, so both are used for light bike frames. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/19/) — Titanium is also used for hip replacements because the body accepts it well. - ← previous: [Glass and pottery](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/30-glass-and-pottery/) - next →: [Recycling: giving materials a second life](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/32-recycling-second-life/) - ↑ back to [Chemistry](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/)