• @Dagnet
        link
        121 month ago

        That’s just spiced iron

      • @Skanky
        link
        41 month ago

        Laughs in tungsten

      • @bi_tux
        link
        61 month ago

        steel is an alloy

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              11 month ago

              Never heard that before, what’s the reasoning? Given that they contain metallic elements, have metallic properties, have metallic bonds, and many are colloquially referred to as metals, what makes you think they aren’t metals?

              • @bi_tux
                link
                61 month ago
                1. I was kinda trolling

                2. They’re not Metals in the context of pure chemical elements

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  11 month ago

                  Ah yeah of course it’s not an element, though I don’t think the original post was about the best elemental metal

  • slurpyslop
    link
    fedilink
    55
    edit-2
    1 month ago

    very clearly the best metal is mercury because it’s the only one you can drink at room temperature

      • slurpyslop
        link
        fedilink
        261 month ago

        you need your hvac serviced if your room is 85F

        UNCOMFORTABLE

      • @Blue_Morpho
        link
        17
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        Eating Gallium is like eating M&M’s.

        Melts in your mouth, not in your hands.

    • @bi_tux
      link
      51 month ago

      but you can eat potassium at room temperature

    • @Mango
      link
      21 month ago

      Well I wanna drink a cold metal.

  • Fat Tony
    link
    51
    edit-2
    1 month ago

    Really? No one’s on the Tungsten train over here? Highest melting point of all metals. It’s also called ‘the devourer of tin’. Now that’s metal for ya.

        • @FederatedSaint
          cake
          link
          261 month ago

          I still cringe at the “posted on x, formerly known as Twitter” wording everyone feels the need to use, even almost a year later.

          I think we should all just call it Twitter and ignore the name change.

          • SatansMaggotyCumFart
            link
            231 month ago

            We should all just ignore the platform until doesn’t matter what it’s called anymore.

          • magnetosphere
            link
            fedilink
            91 month ago

            Replace the word “cringe” with “laugh”, and you’ve got my opinion.

            I cringe at publications that have given in and call it X.

        • Liz
          link
          fedilink
          English
          31 month ago

          We’re giving Twitter the name change respect Elon would give to any other thing or person that changed its name.

  • _NoName_
    link
    fedilink
    411 month ago

    The true tossup is actually mercury or lead.

    Both insanely useful metals with a massive variety of helpful traits.

    And the universe made them poisonous to us as a big “FUCK YOU”.

    • Liz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      131 month ago

      It’s very annoying that gold is so expensive. Much less toxic and still has loads of great properties. It’s just, you know, expensive.

      • @repungnant_canary
        link
        101 month ago

        Yeah, and it’s expensive because it’s …well, expensive. It’s not any less abundant than some other metals or more difficult to extract. We just decided it’s gonna be expensive

        • VindictiveJudge
          link
          English
          81 month ago

          I mean, we didn’t just arbitrarily decide that gold would be expensive, we decided it would be expensive because it’s pretty. It seemed like a good idea a few thousand years ago.

        • Liz
          link
          fedilink
          English
          41 month ago

          So a gold mine is both literal and figurative, eh?

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        51 month ago

        There’s also silver which is an off brand ripoff version of gold. It kind of sucks because it discolors and turns purple.

  • Hellfire103
    link
    fedilink
    English
    401 month ago

    Amateurs! It’s gotta be silver!

    • Looks nice in jewellery
    • Antimicrobial properties
    • An essential component of camera film
    • Highly conductive (e.g. used for electrodes and thermal paste in computing)
    • Catalyst in many chemical reactions
    • Used to make mirrors
    • A critical component of solar panels
    • The only metal capable of incapacitating werewolves, and also somewhat effective against vampires
  • @Sam_Bass
    link
    311 month ago

    Aluminum “rusts” as well. White rust. Aluminum oxide.

    • SkaveRat
      link
      fedilink
      291 month ago

      in fact, it rusts so fast, that it’s pretty much impossible to get a “clean” aluminium surface while oxygen is around

      • @Maalus
        link
        21 month ago

        They had to invent an entirely new style of welding to weld it correctly because it rusts so much you can’t even melt it for welding reliably.

    • @Buddahriffic
      link
      141 month ago

      And if you combine that with magnesium powder, you can make a historic doping agent to coat your zeppelin with!

    • @Illuminostro
      link
      21 month ago

      It doesn’t matter. This story, like all the others on 4chan, are fiction.

    • Liz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      21 month ago

      Yeah but like, in order to get significant amounts of it you gotta be in a relatively harsh environment.

      • @Olhonestjim
        link
        51 month ago

        You get a lot of it at sea. Not supposed to polish it off though, because the aluminum oxide acts as a barrier to further corrosion, whereas iron oxide flakes and continually exposes fresh surface.

        • Liz
          link
          fedilink
          English
          11 month ago

          Yeah I imagine you would. Salty water loves to eat things up.

      • @Sam_Bass
        link
        11 month ago

        Dunno how harsh a warehouse is. We used to get oxidized stuff for our presses a lot

        • Liz
          link
          fedilink
          English
          31 month ago

          It depends on what’s in the warehouse. The only place I’ve seen significant aluminum corrosion was inside a vac frame hood with years of corrosive fumes in it. But, I’m sure there’s a middle ground. Aluminum isn’t inert, but it’s better than raw iron at resisting corrosion.

          • @Sam_Bass
            link
            21 month ago

            Really depends on the grade of material. Aluminum has several different grades of varying hardness, ductility, resistance. Same as steel. Corrosion is the bane of most usable metals and industries are constantly researching methods to fight it

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        11 month ago

        Under a car and in contact with iron is enough. I love my aluminum body cars but man, you need to be careful selecting fasteners.

        • Liz
          link
          fedilink
          English
          11 month ago

          Yeah that’s true, metal to metal contacts can have some fun interactions.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    28
    edit-2
    1 month ago

    You should sneak into his garage in the night and sabotage all his aluminum ingots by hitting them with a hammer until they crack. When he tries to break into your garage to get revenge, he’ll break his hammer and hurt his wrist because iron ingots are superior in strength. That’ll show him.

    • JackbyDev
      link
      fedilink
      English
      11 month ago

      Wouldn’t they just bend? Aluminum is very flexible.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        2
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        They’d bend a little but they would eventually crack if you bent them enough. Aluminum ingots don’t bend like aluminum foil does.

  • Nomecks
    link
    fedilink
    261 month ago

    Carbon is the best metal, ask any astrophysicist.

  • Echo Dot
    link
    fedilink
    171 month ago

    Gallium or bust.

    It’s not really useful but it looks cool and it’ll eat away at both if their metals.

    • @bi_tux
      link
      21 month ago

      it’s even glow in the dark!

      • Liz
        link
        fedilink
        English
        51 month ago

        Don’t you be lying up in this thread! Uranium is very boring looking. Just another grey metal.

          • Liz
            link
            fedilink
            English
            41 month ago

            You can get loads of pretty uranium colors in solution. I love me some chemistry, where the answer to the question “what color is it?” is preceded by “well it depends on the oxidation state…”

              • Liz
                link
                fedilink
                English
                11 month ago

                The answer to the question is preceded by the phrase. Yeah, it was tricky grammar but I didn’t feel like trying to come up with a more clear phrasing.

                Anyway, as in “Well, that depends on the oxidation state. Aqueous +2 would give you…”

        • @bi_tux
          link
          11 month ago

          but it glows in fallout );

        • KillingTimeItself
          link
          fedilink
          English
          11 month ago

          i mean technically, if you refine uranium into plutonium, and then isolate plutonium 238. It does glow.