Smelting development history

The focus of this section is the emission of ultraviolet and visible radiation following thermal or electrical excitation of atoms. Atomic emission spectroscopy has a long history. Qualitative applications based on the color of flames were used in the smelting of ores as early as 1550 and were more fully developed around 1830 with the observation of atomic spectra generated by flame emission and spark emission.Quantitative applications based on the atomic emission from electrical sparks were developed by Norman Lockyer (1836-1920) in the early 1870s, and quantitative applications based on flame emission were pioneered by IT. G. Lunde-gardh in 1930. Atomic emission based on emission from a plasma was introduced in 1964. 

Tin has a long, colorful history. This metal was discovered first in Thailand over 2000 years ago. Early craftsmen discovered that bronze - a noncorrosive metal that is extremely hard and strong enough to be used for spears, swords, arrows, and other especially important objects at that time - could be produced by smelting tin with copper. Tin is also the primary constituent of pewter. Long ago, people developed the belief that trace amounts of tin seemed to help prevent fatigue and depression, and that drinking out of tin cups could help combat these ailments. Tin... 

With the advent of civilization, chemical technology matured. Techniques requiring permanent structures (such as furnaces for smelting metals) could now be developed, and chemical processes could be recorded, repeated, and refined. We can piece together a picture of the methods used from artifacts that remain. The most durable of these are the metals, and metallurgy is the first chemical technology whose history we are able to reconstruct with some surety. 

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