LEAD n.
pliable, inelastic metal, having a bright, bluish color, but easily tarnished. It is both malleable and ductile, though with little tenacity, and is used for tubes, sheets, bullets, etc. Its specific gravity is 11.37. It is easily fusible, forms alloys with other metals, and is an ingredient of solder and type metal. A…
MAGNESIUM n.
A light silver-white metallic element, malleable and ductile, quite permanent in dry air but tarnishing in moist air. It burns, forming (the oxide) magnesia, with the production of a blinding light (the so-called magnesium light) which is used in signaling, in pyrotechny, or in photography where a strong actinic illumi…
MITIS CASTING n.
A process, invented by P. Ostberg, for producing malleable iron castings by melting wrought iron, to which from 0.05 to 0.1 per cent of aluminium is added to lower the melting point, usually in a petroleum furnace, keeping the molten metal at the bubbling point until it becomes quiet, and then pouring the molten metal…
PLATINUM n.
o as the platinum arsenide (sperrylite). It is heavy tin-white metal which is ductile and malleable, but very infusible, and characterized by its resistance to strong chemical reagents. It is used for crucibles, for stills for sulphuric acid, rarely for coin, and in the form of foil and wire for many purposes. Specific…
SILVER n.
A soft white metallic element, sonorous, ductile, very malleable, and capable of a high degree of polish. It is found native, and also combined with sulphur, arsenic, antimony, chlorine, etc., in the minerals argentite, proustite, pyrargyrite, ceragyrite, etc. Silver is one of the "noble" metals, so-called, not being e…
SPIN v.
To shape, as malleable sheet metal, into a hollow form, by bending or buckling it by pressing against it with a smooth hand tool or roller while the metal revolves, as in a lathe. To spin a yarn (Naut.), to tell a story, esp. a long or fabulous tale. -- To spin hay (Mil.), to twist it into ropes for convenient carriag…
TIN n.
nd as an oxide in the mineral cassiterite, and reduced as a soft white crystalline metal, malleable at ordinary temperatures, but brittle when heated. It is not easily oxidized in the air, and is used chiefly to coat iron to protect it from rusting, in the form of tin foil with mercury to form the reflective surface of…
ZINC n.
smithsonite, calamine, and franklinite, as an easily fusible bluish white metal, which is malleable, especially when heated. It is not easily oxidized in moist air, and hence is used for sheeting, coating galvanized iron, etc. It is used in making brass, britannia, and other alloys, and is also largely consumed in elec…