Learn how silver -- the most conductive metal on Earth -- is formed and where it is found; how it is mined; how it is used from industrial applications in products, such as computers and electric switches to medicines and antiseptic clothing; and how artisans such as silversmiths and lapidaries use silver to create beautiful and useful jewelry and wares. Features include a list of tools and tips to set young rock hounds up to unearth their own treasure....

This title introduces young readers to gold: how gold is formed and where it is found; how it is mined, including the discovery of kimberlite pipes; the many uses of gold, from industrial applications in products such as electronics to illuminated manuscripts and space telescopes; and how artisans such as goldsmiths and lapidaries use gold to create beautiful and useful jewelry.

Whether you're interested in fine jewelry or mineralogy, this book provides in-depth information about all the major gem types. The text reveals the riches of the Earth from raw minerals to jewelry pieces. It also explains the science, history, and mythology that surround the gems.

"When you think of nickel, a 5-cent coin probably comes to mind. But nickel is used for so much more than manufacturing coins. Nickel and nickel-containing alloys are very important in our society. Nickel is used in the construction, transportation, power, and high-tech industries. This book tells the fascinating story of how nickel was discovered, how ore containing nickel is mined and extracted, the properties that make nickel so useful, and how...

What makes this book unique is a specific focus on aluminum recovery, rather than just recycling in general. It also offers an integrated discussion of scrap recovery and re-melting operations and includes economic as well as technical elements of recycling. Important topics include a discussion of the scrap aluminum marketplace and how secondary aluminum is collected and sorted, the design and operation of furnaces for melting scrap, the refining...

"In the twentieth century, wealth and power was dictated by access to oil. This century will have different kingmakers, perhaps different wars. We depend on a handful of metals and rare earths to power our phones and computers. Increasingly, we rely on them to power our cars and our homes. Whoever controls these finite commodities will become rich beyond imagining. Sanderson journeys to meet the characters, companies, and nations scrambling for the...

When twelve-year-old Phoebe Plumm and her father are abducted by his employer, The Foundry, a corporation holding a monopoly on metal production and technology, and taken to a savage world of living metal that is rising up against its oppressors, Phoebe and her irksome servant Micah fight back.

From the width of a football field to the size of a small city, the space rocks called asteroids have the potential to be killers. But some asteroids may be loaded with billions of dollars' worth of iron, nickel and even platinum. Will asteroids turn out to be our economic salvation or instruments of extinction?

"Recounts the gripping story of Flint's poisoned water through the people who caused it, suffered from it, and exposed it. It is a chronicle of one town, but could also be about any American city, all made precarious by the neglect of infrastructure" "When the people of Flint, Michigan, turned on their faucets in April 2014, the water pouring out was poisoned with lead and other toxins. Through a series of disastrous decisions, the state government...

"Silver has always been a precious metal, used in photography, dentistry, currency, knives, forks, and spoons (better known as, yes, silverware!). Silver is used in x-rays, mirrors, and even medical bandages. In this book, we'll explore how silver was first discovered and used, and how it forms into compounds and alloys. Readers will discover where silver fits in the Periodic Table, and how silver plays a part in modern day electronics from cell phones...