Researched
Metallurgy (Bronze, Iron)
Ore becomes metal: copper, bronze (copper plus tin) and, from about 1200 BC, iron change tools, weapons and society.
Open in the interactive tree →The first copper smelting dates to about 5000 BC; bronze, harder than copper, appeared around 3300 BC in the Near East and was widespread by 2500 BC. Iron smelting needs temperatures above 1,000 degrees C and charcoal, spread from about 1200 BC and made metal affordable for everyone. The craft of steering properties by alloying and heating is the forerunner of materials science.
Prerequisites
- Mastering Fire~1.8 million-400,000 years ago
- Pottery & Ceramics~18000 BCSmelting grew out of the hotter kilns of pottery makers
Unlocks
- Money~600 BC
- Glassmaking & Glassblowing~50 BC
- Alchemy & Distillation~800
- Gunpowder~900
- Compass~1100
- Blast Furnace & Cast Iron~1400
- Printing Press~1450
- Mechanical Calculator1642
- Reflecting Telescope1668
- Wood, Charcoal & Coal~1709
- Voltaic Pile (First Battery)1800
- Canning (Appert, 1809)1809
- Three-Age System1836
- Rechargeable Battery1859
- Haber-Bosch ammonia synthesis1909
- Stainless & Alloy Steels1912-1913
- Jet Airliner1952
- Neodymium Magnets1982
More in Chemistry & Materials · Antiquity
- Atomism (Democritus)~430 BC