# a chain made of most known metals **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 29, 2020, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664 "2020-05-29T13:13:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2020, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664/21 "2020-05-30T11:16:16Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > No reason why it couldn’t be done, but note that some metals are poisonous (Osmium) […] It’s not that poisonous. I have a piece and have handled it without the slightest irritation. It has poisonous compounds but I bet practically all metals do. Gallium could be used to make a link which would look and feel much like aluminum. But if this is going to be used as a necklace, the gallium link would melt. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2020, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664/22 "2020-05-30T11:51:18Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Plutonium does not exist in nature terrestrially except trace quantities from neutron absorption by [SUP]238[/SUP]U. Most terrestrial uranium is also [SUP]238[/SUP] which is toxic and carcinogenic if inhaled or ingested but as a solid ingot is only weakly radioactive. > > A better reason not to make it, aside from the structural issues listed above, is that differences in electronegativity of different elements will result in galvanic corrosion, so you’ve have to isolate different links from one another. That, and the only natural form of Polonium on this planet is [sup]210[/sup]Po, which is rather floridly dangerous even to handle. > [@](#): > > George R. R. Martin has basically riffed on Tolkein, Edward Gibbon, Thomas Mallory, and countless other authors to synthesize the world of Game of Thrones. His novels and stories are entertaining but very little of it could be described in any way as original mythology. Ha. Name me a work of dramatic fiction with a new take on the love triangle. Everything is borrowed, all art is the much-reused billboard space from the poem: “Smoke Coca-Cola cigarettes, chew Wrigleys Spearmint beer,/Ken-L-Ration dog food makes your complexion clear,/Simonize your baby in a Hershey candy bar,/And Texaco’s a beauty cream that’s used by every star.” ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2020, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664/23 "2020-05-30T18:35:10Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > xkcd’s Randall Munroe has covered the question what would happen if you had a “periodic wall of elements” with every element positioned according to its place in the periodic table ([pdf link](https://englishatlc.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/randall-munroe-periodic-wall-of-elements.pdf)). The conclusion was that it wouldn’t be a good thing to have. > [@Randall Munroe](#): > > Of the 118 elements, 30 of them–like helium, copper, aluminum, iron and ammonia–can be bought in pure form in local retail stores. So ammonia is an element now? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664/24 "2020-05-30T19:27:35Z")
No mention yet of [the Periodic Table table](https://theodoregray.com/periodictable/)? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2020, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664/25 "2020-05-30T19:38:16Z")
Perhaps the practical answer is, which metals were known to the GoT universe, and if a chain with those constituents (presumably non-toxic, solid) could be bought/made easily. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2020, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664/26 "2020-05-30T20:18:08Z")
Aren’t [most things](https://www.dummies.com/education/science/chemistry/the-periodic-table-metals-nonmetals-and-metalloids/) on the periodic table deemed a metal? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2020, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664/27 "2020-05-30T20:51:55Z")
It’s worse than that. If you talk to a cosmologist, she will tell you that [everything except hydrogen and helium is a metal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallicity). ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2020, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664/28 "2020-05-30T23:32:53Z")
OK, enough talking around the problem. How about this list? (NO to Lithium, Sodium, Potassium, Rubidium, Cesium and Francium) Beryllium Magnesium (NO to Calcium, Strontium, Barium, and Radium) Scandium (NO to Yttrium, Lanthanum, and Actinium) Titanium, Zirconium, (NO to Hafnium, Rutherfordium) Vanadium (iffy), Niobium, Tantalum Chromium, Molybdenum, Tungsten Manganese, Rhenium (NO to Technetium) Iron, Ruthenium, Osmium (iffy) Rhodium, Iridium (NO to Cobalt) Nickel, Palladium, Platinum Copper, Silver, Gold Zinc (NO to Cadmium, Mercury) Aluminum (NO to Gallium, Indium, Thallium) Tin, Lead Bismuth (iffy) (NO to Polonium) ?Europium, Gadolinium, Holmium By my count, that’s between 26 and 32 links that you’d be willing to wear around your neck. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664/29 "2020-05-31T02:33:24Z")
> [@brossa](#): > > OK, enough talking around the problem. How about this list? > > (NO to Lithium, Sodium, Potassium, Rubidium, Cesium and Francium) > Beryllium Magnesium (NO to Calcium, Strontium, Barium, and Radium) > Scandium (NO to Yttrium, Lanthanum, and Actinium) > Titanium, Zirconium, (NO to Hafnium, Rutherfordium) > Vanadium (iffy), Niobium, Tantalum > Chromium, Molybdenum, Tungsten > Manganese, Rhenium (NO to Technetium) > Iron, Ruthenium, Osmium (iffy) > Rhodium, Iridium (NO to Cobalt) > Nickel, Palladium, Platinum > Copper, Silver, Gold > Zinc (NO to Cadmium, Mercury) > Aluminum (NO to Gallium, Indium, Thallium) > Tin, Lead > Bismuth (iffy) > (NO to Polonium) > ?Europium, Gadolinium, Holmium > > By my count, that’s between 26 and 32 links that you’d be willing to wear around your neck. Well, Jeez, that’s not going to be very glowy. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664/30 "2020-05-31T03:08:37Z")
> [@brossa](#): > > OK, enough talking around the problem. How about this list? > > (NO to Lithium, Sodium, Potassium, Rubidium, Cesium and Francium) > Beryllium Magnesium (NO to Calcium, Strontium, Barium, and Radium) > Scandium (NO to Yttrium, Lanthanum, and Actinium) > Titanium, Zirconium, (NO to Hafnium, Rutherfordium) > Vanadium (iffy), Niobium, Tantalum > Chromium, Molybdenum, Tungsten > Manganese, Rhenium (NO to Technetium) > Iron, Ruthenium, Osmium (iffy) > Rhodium, Iridium (NO to Cobalt) > Nickel, Palladium, Platinum > Copper, Silver, Gold > Zinc (NO to Cadmium, Mercury) > Aluminum (NO to Gallium, Indium, Thallium) > Tin, Lead > Bismuth (iffy) > (NO to Polonium) > ?Europium, Gadolinium, Holmium > > By my count, that’s between 26 and 32 links that you’d be willing to wear around your neck. What do you have against Cobalt? It’s innocuous when not ingested. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664/31 "2020-05-31T03:27:03Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Perhaps the practical answer is, which metals were known to the GoT universe, and if a chain with those constituents (presumably non-toxic, solid) could be bought/made easily. This is the real issue. GoT is essentially a middle ages level of technology, and there just weren’t that many elements known at that point. > **[Discovery of chemical elements](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_chemical_element_discoveries)** > > The discoveries of the 118 chemical elements known to exist as of 2024 are presented here in chronological order. The elements are listed generally in the order in which each was first defined as the pure element, as the exact date of discovery of most elements cannot be accurately determined. There are plans to synthesize more elements, and it is not known how many elements are possible. > Each element's name, atomic number, year of first report, name of the discoverer, and notes related to the d... Up until the late 1600s, we only really knew about 13 elements, and of those that are metals, only mercury would really be a problem when making a link in a chain. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664/32 "2020-05-31T04:16:36Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > This is the real issue. GoT is essentially a middle ages level of technology, and there just weren’t that many elements known at that point… Why would we assume they’re limited to elements? The concept of an element as we understand it wouldn’t matter to them; they might well have considered bronze, white gold, brass, steel, electrum, gunmetal, and who knows what else as distinct “metals.” ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664/33 "2020-05-31T04:56:06Z")
> [@brossa](#): > > OK, enough talking around the problem. How about this list? > > (NO to Lithium, Sodium, Potassium, Rubidium, Cesium and Francium) > Beryllium Magnesium (NO to Calcium, Strontium, Barium, and Radium) > Scandium (NO to Yttrium, Lanthanum, and Actinium) > Titanium, Zirconium, (NO to Hafnium, Rutherfordium) > Vanadium (iffy), Niobium, Tantalum > Chromium, Molybdenum, Tungsten > Manganese, Rhenium (NO to Technetium) > Iron, Ruthenium, Osmium (iffy) > Rhodium, Iridium (NO to Cobalt) > Nickel, Palladium, Platinum > Copper, Silver, Gold > Zinc (NO to Cadmium, Mercury) > Aluminum (NO to Gallium, Indium, Thallium) > Tin, Lead > Bismuth (iffy) > (NO to Polonium) > ?Europium, Gadolinium, Holmium > > By my count, that’s between 26 and 32 links that you’d be willing to wear around your neck. These are all the elements they will not wear at Harvard If there are any worse ones they have not been discovered! ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664/34 "2020-05-31T05:12:05Z")
…discarvard. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664/35 "2020-05-31T08:27:24Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > So ammonia is an element now? Must be a typo or an inadvertent mistake. The periodic table that follows does not have ammonia in it (which is, of course, correct). ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664/36 "2020-05-31T12:28:16Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Why would we assume they’re limited to elements? > > The concept of an element as we understand it wouldn’t matter to them; they might well have considered bronze, white gold, brass, steel, electrum, gunmetal, and who knows what else as distinct “metals.” Plus we don’t know what those alchemists are up to with their wildfire, or the Valyrians with their steel. Transmutation? Different elements? ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664/37 "2020-05-31T19:41:17Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Yeah, it’s the soft and liquid metals that really screw this idea up. When I was a kid, I thought it would be neat to have a cast figure of DC’s Metal Men in each of their respective metals…but Mercury? Just cool it, man: Melting point 234.3210 K ​(−38.8290 °C, ​−37.8922 °F) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664/38 "2020-05-31T21:49:36Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The concept of an element as we understand it wouldn’t matter to them; they might well have considered bronze, white gold, brass, steel, electrum, gunmetal, and who knows what else as distinct “metals.” They didn’t, or at least they didn’t have [alchemical signs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemical_symbol) for them. If they had been classed as distinct metals they probably would have had their own symbols. There were seven “metals of antiquity,” gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, and mercury. A few other metals, like [zinc, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_chemical_element_discoveries) were sort of known but often not clearly identified. I don’t know if a Maester’s Chain is described in detail, but I would expect it to include the first six metals, and maybe a link with a vial of mercury. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664/39 "2020-06-01T01:03:44Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > They didn’t, or at least they didn’t have [alchemical signs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemical_symbol) for them. If they had been classed as distinct metals they probably would have had their own symbols. You’re talking about our world. The thread, and my comment, were about the world of Game of Thrones. Just now I discovered that, according tothe nerds who claim to know these things, there are many alloys in a maester’s chain; Valyrian steel, “pale steel,” which I’m guessing is George RR Martin’s way of saying stainless steel, bronze, “Red gold,” electrum, and a few others. > **[Order of Maesters](https://gameofthrones.fandom.com/wiki/Order_of_Maesters)** > > This page is about the scholastic order. For the short, see: The Order of the Maesters The Order of Maesters, also known as the Order of the Maesters, and most often simply as the Maesters, are an order of intellectuals (scholars, healers, and other... ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664/40 "2020-06-01T09:04:33Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Why would we assume they’re limited to elements? > > The concept of an element as we understand it wouldn’t matter to them; they might well have considered bronze, white gold, brass, steel, electrum, gunmetal, and who knows what else as distinct “metals.” The concept of an alloy has been understood since the Bronze Age, and alloys have been manufactured deliberately. Once you start combining two (or more) metals into one, you certainly get an idea that the two original metals are more elementary in nature than the alloy you get from blending them. Edit: I could see that this alloy idea could be obfuscated in the case of natural alloys, when you melt metal out of an ore that contains both base metals naturally. In such a case you might well perceive the alloy to be an element. But I suppose it doesn’t take a skilled metallurgist much to realise after some experimenting that you can greatly increase the quantity and desired quality of alloys by combiing base metals purposefully. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-chain-made-of-most-known-metals/854664.md?page=1)