Written by: Aarav BC - 25001, Grade IX
Posted on: 05 July, 2021
On July 2nd 2021 we had a virtual tour on Google meet. All the students from grade 9 and 10 were present in the virtual tour. Anup sir, our mathematics teacher and Pravat sir, our science teacher were there. Anup sir presented his screen and technically it was not a virtual tour but we watched a documentary about metals. The documentary was really good. It was about one hour long but I didn’t get bored at all. I never knew that many things about metals. The documentary was very knowledgeable. I was surprised that metals had so many uses and importance. The documentary says that the metals are the important treasures of earth.
Without metals there would not be anything. Living in a modern society without metals would be really hard. Without metals there would not be buildings,vehicles,electricity etc. We learned about the different types of metals. Gold,Silver,Copper,Bronze etc are some common metals. Gold and Silver are very rare and expensive metals. It is said that ancient people valued gold before currency existed. Gold is usually used for making jewellery and other items like sculptures etc.
We learned that plastic trash can be changed into steel. Many researchers have found a way to turn trash into steel. What the documentary says is that the most basic steel is the alloy of iron and carbon and we can find carbon in plastics and people or researchers use different methods to make the carbon and iron bond. This means that we can take trash as an amazing possibility.
We also learned about Aluminum. Aluminium is a very light metal. Aluminium is used in making many things like aeroplanes. Because of Aluminium the aeroplanes have been able to carry many people and things inside it. For example if we used steel to make an aeroplane instead of aluminium the aeroplane would be so heavy that it would not be able to hold as much as people an aeroplane made from aluminium could hold. It would need more fuel to fly. I was really shocked and surprised when I found out about this.
We learned so many facts about metals. We learned about an interesting type of metal which is called metal foam. Metal foam is a type of metal which can change its shape. This metal is more beneficial in space because you can actually change its shape. For example in space you can take the metal foam and use it as a wrench and the next day you could change its shape and use it as a hammer. But metal foam is not as effective on the earth surface as it is in space. It can change its shape but you cannot change its shape like you can do it in space.
The documentary finished around 4:30 pm. I really got to know so many things about metals. We all learned that metals are a very important matter. We all learned about its types, its uses, its importance and other facts about metal. After the documentary finished Anup sir asked some of us to write an article about the virtual tour and our virtual tour ended at 4:35 pm.
