WEBVTT - Swords - The Real Cutting Edge Technology 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:07.520 Get in touch with technology What tex Stuff from host 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:15.800 books dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:19.440 I'm Jonathan Strickland, and joining me in the studio is 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:23.960 my friend Ariel Casting. She's rejoined the podcast where a 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:27.880 couple of episodes we are going to cover uh, cutting 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:35.080 edge technology. Swords. Yeah, I made a pun. Uh So yeah, 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:38.479 we're gonna talk about swords and for for people like 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:42.200 myself and an Ariel, this is beyond something that we're 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:46.320 just interested in. The both of us have done stage combat, 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:50.280 some extensive stage combat. Ariel, I think you prefer the 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:53.040 broad sword to the rapier. I do. Yeah, the bigger 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:57.080 the better. You're crazy, I'm more okay, fine, I'm more 0:00:57.120 --> 0:00:59.760 of a rapier person because I think finesse is some 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:02.880 times called for. Uh. And also I have a body 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:05.920 type where rapier works better than a big old sword. 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:09.399 But we both are interested in this sorce stuff. Actually, 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:13.320 Ariel and I first met working for the Georgia Renaissance 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:18.720 Festival back in two thousand and one, I believe. Yeah, 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:22.280 so two thousand one we started working there too. I 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:23.800 had been there a couple of years. An Arie Old 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:27.360 joined the cast and she jumped right into doing combat 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:30.000 as soon as possible, whereas I was, I decided that 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:33.280 was not for me. And it was one of those 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:37.400 things where both of us have this interest in the topic, uh, 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:39.640 and you know, we both like the whole swords and 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:43.520 sorcery stuff too. So when I said let's let's cover 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:47.319 something and we started talking about the possible topics, swords 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:50.240 was one of those things that it's a technology that's 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:54.960 been around for longer than longer than written history. In 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:58.800 some cases possibly that's debatable, but we'll get to that. 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:02.960 So to start us off, Ariel, can you walk us through. 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:07.080 Let's say you're looking at your typical sword, like a 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:11.200 Viking sword. Let's say, what are the parts of a sword? 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:14.840 All right, So there are lots of different kinds of swords, 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:17.959 but um, they all basically are made the same way 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:23.760 with the same pieces. So you've got the blade, you know, 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:26.840 the part that you hurt people with, and then you've 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:29.880 got the hilt, which I guess you can hurt somebody 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.720 with a help, but it's not as fun um. And 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:34.960 a lot of hilts also have a guard which protects 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:39.680 your hand uh from other people's swords, um, which I 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:42.160 personally know is a good thing because I've been cut 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:44.720 open on the hand by a sword before. So there 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:47.240 was actually a day where Ariel was doing stage combat, 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:49.280 got hit in the hand, had to go and get 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:53.799 stitches or staples, stitches, stitches, and then came back and 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:57.480 finished the day. Yep, yep, worth it, so worth it. 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:02.120 But so yeah, so a guard is really important. Um. 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:04.200 And then you've got a pommel which is at the 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:07.200 very base of the sword, and that helps keep the 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:09.120 sword from slipping out of your hand, because when you're 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:11.000 gripping on a sword and you're swinging it around, your 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:13.920 hand gets really sweaty um. And it also acts as 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:16.680 a counterweight which balances the sword. Otherwise you're using far 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:20.320 too much muscle and strength to try to finesse the 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:25.280 sword around. Um. Yeah. And that speaking from experience, that 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:28.400 can get very tiring, even with the pommel. But if 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:31.320 you didn't have that counterweight helping you with those uh, 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:34.200 those moves, then just the your wrist would get exhausted 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:37.400 and your forearm in order to control the sword while 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:42.040 making those swings, you'd be very quickly become an ineffective swordsman. Now, 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:44.280 the hilt in the pommel, the back end of the sword. 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:49.000 The decorative part um is called furniture because it's furnishing 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:53.600 the sword um and really interesting. In ancient Europe, the 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:56.800 hilt of the sword was the entire back end from 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:01.720 the guard to the pommel, and in North and Viking 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:04.480 culture it just meant the lower hilt in the upper hilt, 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:06.640 which was like the pommel and cross guard, but not 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:10.720 the actual grip. Now so so the parts that were 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:14.960 on either side of the actual grip interesting. And when 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:17.720 we talk about blades blades also we can break that 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:22.200 down a little bit more. Blades typically have six and 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:26.120 sometimes seven different areas to them. Uh. First, you have 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:29.480 the edge. This is the important part of the sword. 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:33.360 This is the actual cutting side of the blade. Now, 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:36.800 some swords are single edged, like the Katana is a 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:40.719 single edged sword. A lot of different um uh swords 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:43.480 throughout the ages have been single edged, but others are 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:46.200 double edged swords like long swords and a lot of 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:52.080 short swords, and even some swords like paz or. Yeah, 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:54.640 that's true, they technically have three, although those tend to 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:57.920 be used more for stabby stabby than cutty cutty. And 0:04:57.960 --> 0:04:59.920 then you've got the tip that would be the stabby 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:03.360 tavy part. You've got the back of the sword. Now, 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:08.279 the back only exists if you have a single edged blade. 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:12.400 The back refers to the non sharpened edge of the sword. 0:05:12.520 --> 0:05:17.360 So if you had a know, a scimitar, for example, 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:20.960 is sharpened along the front side, but not the back side, 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:23.480 So the back you don't since you don't have two edges, 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:25.200 you do have a back on that one, whereas with 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:27.760 a long sword. You know, your typical long sword had 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:30.680 an edge on either side, so you don't have a 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:33.679 back on that type of sword. Yeah, there's the flat 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:36.880 of the blade that refers to the sides, not the edges. 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:39.240 So if you were to slap someone with the flat 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:41.680 of the blade, it would sting, but it wouldn't cut them, right, 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:43.839 You just do that to be a jerk. Yeah, And 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:47.479 actually that's a go to move from stage combat because 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:52.920 you usually there's a usually it's the cocky hero who, uh, 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:56.600 while dodging a villain's attack, will slap them on the 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:58.720 rear end with the flat of the blade. And and 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:01.280 by the way, that does sting, Yes it does. Then 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:03.880 you have the fuller. Now, the fuller is a narrow 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:07.000 groove that runs down the blade of lots of different swords. 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:09.960 Not all sorts have these, but a lot do. Sometimes 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:13.920 they call it the blood groove or blood gutter. Uh, 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:16.200 And it's not what a lot of people think it 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:19.160 is there. I have heard folks say, oh, well, it's 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:22.359 it's a channel for blood to flow through so that 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:25.280 when you stab someone, the blood has a place to go, 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:28.919 so you know, as you're stabbing them over and over 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:32.720 they continue to bleed out. That's not what that's for. 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:35.120 In fact, it has nothing to do with blood. It 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:38.400 has everything to do to making a strong sword without 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:41.760 having to use as much material to make that sword. 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:49.120 So the gutter that that channel actually adds structural integrity 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:52.840 to a blade, so it is able to maintain its 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:56.279 shape while still being a little flexible um, and is 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:59.039 able to cut through stuff without breaking. And I guess 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:00.840 that would mean it would also be lighter weight. Yeah, 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:02.799 because you don't have to use as much material. Instead 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:06.279 of a solid steel sword where you know, you have 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:09.760 the whole mass made up like that, you have that channel. 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:12.160 It means that you use less material. It means that 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:15.960 less material means less weight. Very important. As it turns out, 0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:19.360 I mean they're not everyone is the mountain in Game 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:22.360 of Thrones. You know some some of us mirror mortals 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:25.800 need a little bit of a rest. The aerial is 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:28.800 the mountain. But I I need more, uh you know, 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:33.280 a light sword I appreciate. Next, we have the tang. Now, 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:35.120 the tang is the part of the blade that is 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:39.160 actually covered by the hilt uh so a sword. If 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:42.000 you were to strip the hilt away, um and take 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:45.040 away the guard, take away the pommel, you would see 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:48.440 a blade that on the base of it turns into 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:53.480 almost like a rectangular solid steel um usually steel because 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:57.680 we're talking about steel today, but solid steel tab essentially 0:07:57.720 --> 0:08:00.840 that If it's a full tang, it's pretty much the 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:02.800 width of the blade and runs all the way down 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:06.400 to where the pommel would attach. If it's a partial tang, 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:09.520 it's maybe about half the width of the blade. It 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:12.760 can even be more narrow than that. UM And at 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:15.880 any rate, this is what the grip fits on top of. 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:19.560 It's what the guard attaches to. There's actually um a 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:23.160 shoulder on some on some blades where that's where the 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:26.640 guard will attach. Where it won't go beyond because your 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:28.480 card wouldn't be much use if it just went wing 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:30.800 right off the end of the blade. It would be 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:33.839 you know funny that one time, I prefer a full tang. 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:37.240 I know that I have thought plenty of time with 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:39.600 swords where the tang was not quite big or long 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:41.920 enough and it's just kind of floppy and there. Yeah, yeah, 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:44.480 you can actually if it's not if the if the 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:48.559 handle isn't properly fed to the tang, it it's loose. 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:51.120 You can feel it rattling, and that's that means you 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:54.360 have less control and also you're doing a lot more work. 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:58.400 And also it's not it doesn't it just feels unsafe. 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:00.360 As someone who's fought with these as well, No, I 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:03.200 prefer a full tang sword as well. Also that affects 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:06.200 the handling of the sword. Uh So if you have 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:10.200 a full tang sword, it's going to feel different in 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:12.240 your hand, not just because of whether or not the 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:15.720 blade is is um steady inside the you know when 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:18.880 you're holding the handle, but it's also going to mean 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:21.520 that's going to change the balance of the blade. So 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:25.679 that's something else. Um. Also, some swords have was called 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:28.600 a ricosso is that where there's a pretty painting on 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:31.800 it that's kind of abstracting. No, I mean, you can 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:34.760 do etchings on swords and stuff, but that is not 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:37.920 what a ricosso is. A ricosso is an unsharpened portion 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:40.680 at the base of a blade, just above the guard. 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:44.160 So if you've ever seen a big sword where you've 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:47.160 got the big hilt and then the blade when it 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:49.880 first when it comes out past the guard, you can 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:52.679 tell it's not sharp for another you know, seven or 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:56.720 eight inches, that's the ricosso. And those are often used 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:01.760 for really really monstrous lead big swords where you were 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:06.520 using it against pikeman or you're using it against mounted cavalry. Uh. 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:08.800 And you just you you wanted to have the ability 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:12.200 to grip a little higher on the blade um in 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:15.320 certain situations, but then again you're risking getting your fingers 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:20.199 cut off. Yes. Uh. Interesting. You saw some of the 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:24.000 footage from the E three where they had the Viking 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:27.840 versus Nights game. The thing that it bugged me was 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:30.600 that in that game, one of the characters has a 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:35.080 finishing move where they flip the sword around so they're 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:38.480 holding it by the blade and they bring bring it 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:41.280 down almost like the hilt is acting like a bludgeon 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:43.120 or an ax, but instead of it being a bludgeon. 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:46.000 They hit a person just at the very base of 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:49.480 the blade and cut into them to to to kill 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:52.760 your opponent, and the whole time I'm thinking your fingers 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:56.160 would be gone. So I have a theory about this, okay, okay, 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:57.959 because I've been thinking about this and it bothered me too. 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:01.440 I believe that that king fought so long and hard 0:11:01.480 --> 0:11:04.400 that his blade was so dull that it was safe 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:06.160 to handle. It was safe to handle, it was no 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:09.160 longer useful for the purpose it was made for, and 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:11.480 he had to turn it around. And the only part 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:13.800 that's sharp now is the bit that's right above the guard. 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:17.480 So I'm just gonna flip this around. Yeah. Interesting, I 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:20.400 I like that you're an apologist. I don't know if 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:23.800 that's true or not. It's probably not. Probably. So we 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:26.559 wanted to look a little bit too at the history 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:30.200 of swords, because you know, it's they've been around for 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:32.400 quite some time. And actually, when you get to the 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:35.319 point of you know, where were the earliest swords made, 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:39.559 there there's a lot of disagreement, and it's largely because 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:44.400 swords are uh there there's not a rough like a 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:48.200 very clear definition of what is the sword versus what 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:52.680 is a dagger. Um, generally speaking, you would say a 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:54.839 sword is longer than a dagger and a dagger shorter 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:58.480 than a sword. But that's not very satisfying, right, because 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:01.840 it's like saying a mountain's taller than a hill, like 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:04.320 you need it would be great to have some hard 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:08.880 numbers there. Well, there there are some. It's kind of 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:17.079 considered that a dagger is between seventy yeah, yeah, but um, 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:19.880 because there is that controversy, like we don't actually know 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:23.959 when the first swords came about, right the the there 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:26.200 was a cool find in two thousand three where some 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:30.800 archaeologists discovered weapons in as Land Tepe, Turkey, and I 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:35.640 could be completely butchering that that place name, and I apologize. 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:38.360 It looks like to me, yeah, that's just a total 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:41.400 guess on my part. So they the weapons they found 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:46.520 had been forged more than five thousand years ago. However, 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:48.800 this was one of those cases where some of the 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:51.760 other experts were saying, well, these aren't really swords, they're 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:56.160 just long daggers. And again, like sometimes people argue it's 0:12:56.280 --> 0:12:59.960 whether or not the uses for attack or defense because 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.440 a lot of people think of a dagger's defensive weapon. Um. 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:06.120 But but I mean, when it comes down to it, 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:09.000 we at least know which came first, the dagger of 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:11.760 the sword. Yeah, yeah, the daggers came first, or or 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:14.160 even a knife. But if you would consider a dagger 0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:19.040 or a knife a sword of a sort um, then 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:21.200 you can't even go back to the Stone Age because 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:26.760 there were sharpened wood and bone and clinton stone knives 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:30.240 and daggers then yeah, and uh, I mean when we 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:32.920 talk about daggers versus knives, even that gets confusing, right 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:35.280 because some people will argue that a knife has a 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:38.160 single cutting edge and a dagger has two cutting edges, 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:40.959 but it all depends upon But then a sword has 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:44.560 a single or double and there's some people who are like, well, no, 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:46.280 this is a knife, that's a dagger, that's a dagger, 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:48.480 that's a knife, and and it's you know, so I an'tway. 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:52.120 The reason why we're saying it's hard to nail this 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:56.839 down is because language itself is complicated, so finding the 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:02.360 specifics are trick. But getting back to that awesome archaeological 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:06.160 find over in Turkey, the swords predated the next oldest 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:12.240 find by about a thousand years. Yeah, a millennia passed 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:17.360 between these weapons and the next oldest weapons that had 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:20.120 ever been found. Um. Some means the swords would have 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:22.760 been forged sometime around three thousand, three fifty b C, 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:27.200 which is at the very beginning of the early Bronze Age. 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:30.560 The if you think of the ages, the three big ones, 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:34.080 the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, this 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:36.600 is at the just at the end of the Stone Age, 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:38.280 the beginning of the Bronze Age. Some people call it 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:41.600 the Copper Age because copper was a metal that was 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:45.840 the first metal that humans discovered. Um so, and smithing 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:49.360 started with copper and then turned into bronze. Yeah. In fact, 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:52.280 the copper that was are the swords that were found 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:54.800 were a copper alloy, right, yeah, yeah, they were a 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:58.160 copper alloy. They had mixed arsenic with it. Um and 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:02.880 not so if you if cut me a die from poison, no, no, no, 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:05.360 it wasn't. It wasn't poisoned blades, although they might have 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:08.040 poisoned their blades, I don't know. Um. They did it 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:11.960 to change the metal, to to change its chemistry, and 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:14.240 it made it actually stronger, and it made the copper 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:16.800 because copper is pretty soft it made it hold its 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:19.240 shape and hold its edge. And then also three of 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:23.360 the swords were inlaid with silver. Yeah, so they fancy 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:25.760 they were there, fancy swords. They weren't just you know, 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:30.800 old like hackneyed, kind of gross little things. Right, So 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:34.640 it be technically if if these swords this amazing find, 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:36.600 if they are, if we got to a point where 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:39.720 we all said, okay, so these are not swords, when 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:44.480 would we say swords really got their start? Well, I 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:47.840 guess most people would say that swords really got their 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:53.640 start closer to seventeen hundred sixteen hundred BC, which is 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:56.040 the middle of the Bronze Age, And they were made 0:15:56.040 --> 0:16:00.000 of bronze, which is alloy of copper and tin um 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:02.240 and and the argument stems from the fact that a 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:05.000 sword has to be strong in order to be used 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:06.840 the way it's meant to be used, which is, you know, 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:12.720 slicing into people or hacking things apart or whatever. Um 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:15.360 and soft metals just don't work for that. So copper 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:19.160 wouldn't work so well for that, especially in longer blades 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:22.880 like sword blades as opposed to daggers. Yeah, that's it's 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:27.600 absolutely true. Uh, that's why you know, until we got 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:30.600 a better understanding of what alloys were. And we'll talk 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:33.520 more about what an alloy is in just a second. Uh, 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:37.920 you know, relying on pure metal was tricky because that 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:40.800 pure metal couldn't stand up to the rigors. I mean, 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:43.360 you get to a point where you're in combat and 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:46.800 you are uh, fighting with your weapons. If your weapons 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:49.120 are bending or breaking, then obviously you are at a 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:52.360 distinct disadvantage. So let's talk about some of these materials 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:55.200 that we use. All right, So copper and alloys. So copper, 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:57.720 as I said, was first metal discovered by humans. It's 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:01.920 very easy to shape, so that makes it incredibly useful 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:03.680 for stuff like if you want to turn it into 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:07.720 cookery or or jewelry, or these days, if you want 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:09.760 to turn it into wire so that you can run 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:12.600 electricity through it, because it's also a great conductor. But 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:14.840 that's also the trautback is because it's so easy to 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:17.000 be shaped, it's also easy for it to bend. It 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:19.040 won't hold onto an edge very well. When we talk 0:17:19.080 --> 0:17:21.560 about holding onto an edge, we mean that the metal 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:24.440 has to be a special kind of hardness. It has 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:26.840 to be hard enough so that when you give it 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:30.080 an edge, and then you hit something. That edge is maintained, 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:32.399 but soft enough so that you can make it have 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:35.760 an edge in the first place. So it's a delicate balance. 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:39.119 So you can sharpen a copper blade, but once you 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:41.800 use it it becomes dull. And actually I saw a 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:46.800 really cool demonstration of this. The BBC did a whole 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:51.240 series about ancient Britain and at one point they talked 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:54.720 about the the Bronze Age, and they made two arrow heads, 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:56.480 and one was made out of copper and one was 0:17:56.480 --> 0:17:59.119 made out of bronze. They had a little sheet of metal. 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:02.720 They put the copper arrowhead against the sheet of metal 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:07.159 on and it had a little like arrow extending behind it. 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:10.520 They used the hammer they hit the arrow so that 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:14.160 the head of the tip of the arrow would press 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:17.040 against this metal, and the copper just buckled. And then 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:18.879 they the bronze and they did the same thing and 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:21.640 the bronze pierced through the metal. So it showed that 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:26.359 bronze is a much stronger material than copper, So wasn't 0:18:26.520 --> 0:18:30.280 Copper was mostly used in weaponry as a way of 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:34.600 giving more weight to stuff like maces and clubs. So 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:37.840 for the smashy smashy but not the slicy slice. Yeah, 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:40.119 and you may go, well, but pennies are copper, and 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:43.160 I can't bend a penny, and that's because they're made 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:47.200 from copper alloys. Around three thousand BC, humans figured out 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:49.359 how to make copper stronger by adding other stuff to 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:52.160 it um, making it an alloy, which we've already kind 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:55.399 of talked about a little bit um. And sometimes the 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:58.320 thing they added is another metal. So in the instance 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:01.000 of bronze, which is kind of what pennies really are, 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:06.200 it's uh, copper and tin um. And then sometimes like 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:09.439 with iron which makes steel, it's a metal and a 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:14.000 non metal like iron and carbon. Right, So when you 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:17.359 have an alloy, you've got two main things you're thinking about. 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:19.240 It can be more than two, by the way. You can. 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:21.639 In fact, there's some types of bronze where they add 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:25.520 magnesium and some other stuff to it, but the basic 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:30.760 ingredients are are copper and tent. But your primary primary 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:34.200 material is called the main metal. So with bronze, that 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:38.280 would be copper. Most of bronze is made up of copper. 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:41.280 That so it's called the main metal, or the base metal, 0:19:41.400 --> 0:19:45.200 or even the parent metal. So the other stuff is 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:49.600 called the alloying agent, not the annoying agent, which is 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:52.800 what mine is the alloying I don't have an agent, 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:55.480 so I can say that the alloying agent. So the 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:59.959 parent metal can be or more of the overall substance. 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:02.760 It can be less than that to uh, and the 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:06.120 alloy maybe as little as one percent. The alloying agent 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:08.120 may be as little as one percent or even less 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:11.520 of the overall. When we start talking about steel, we'll 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:15.280 be talking about some really amazing like you have to 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:19.640 be super precise with adding the carbon to your iron 0:20:19.680 --> 0:20:24.080 in order to get usable steel. So most alloys are 0:20:24.160 --> 0:20:27.800 solid solutions, so that means the different atoms of material 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:30.840 are just mixed together, but aren't chemically bonded to each other. 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:33.879 The easiest way to imagine this is let's say that 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:35.960 you actually let's say you've got a little dish and 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:39.600 you pour pepper and salt into it. Now, the salt 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:43.080 and pepper aren't chemically bonded together. You could, with enough 0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:46.440 patients and a fine enough pair of tweezers, pick out 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:50.080 all the grains of salt, so they have not chemically bonded. 0:20:50.359 --> 0:20:52.040 And no matter how much you mash the salt and 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:54.520 pepper and make it into finer and finer grounds, it's 0:20:54.520 --> 0:20:57.560 still going to be salt, right exactly. You you could 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:02.000 get increasingly smaller tweetsers and still separate it. Would you'd 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:05.080 be wondering why I'm making you do this, and the 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:09.960 answer is because you know, you know why. But a 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:14.000 few alloys are actually compounds. Now, compounds are different from solutions. 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:16.560 Compounds mean that the atoms of the parent metal and 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:20.640 the alloying agent actually do chemically bond. So in this case, 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:22.960 we would talk about two things that when you mix 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:26.160 it together and make a third thing. So salt itself 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:31.440 is sodium and uh you know sodium and chloride. You 0:21:31.480 --> 0:21:34.360 put those together and that makes salt. You can't separate 0:21:34.400 --> 0:21:37.480 that back out again easily. Right. It's not like you 0:21:37.520 --> 0:21:39.480 can take really tiny tweezers and like, okay, now I'm 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:40.760 gonna put all the sodium over here and all the 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:43.520 chloride over here. Now you would have to use fancy signs, 0:21:43.600 --> 0:21:47.560 yes you would. Uh. So, the atoms and an alloy 0:21:47.600 --> 0:21:50.719 are in a structure called a crystalline lattice. So if 0:21:50.720 --> 0:21:53.440 you were to look at these with an electron microscope, 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:56.760 which those are a blast to use. By the way, 0:21:57.520 --> 0:22:00.199 you'd see the atoms of both the alloy and the 0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:02.840 parent metal and they'd be arranged in some way. So 0:22:02.920 --> 0:22:07.040 some are substitution alloys. These are pretty simple to imagine. 0:22:07.400 --> 0:22:12.160 So let's say that, well, we'll we'll talk about Let's 0:22:12.200 --> 0:22:15.240 imagine that you're talking about the bronze and you've got 0:22:15.960 --> 0:22:19.119 copper balls, and you've got ten balls like T I 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:22.960 N not T E N, and you lay out the 0:22:23.000 --> 0:22:26.000 cover balls in a grid, and then you remove some 0:22:26.080 --> 0:22:28.399