A world without metal – “Good!
Calm down, boomers, I’m talking about the elements.
You know, copper, silver, lead, iron, and whatnot.
What if they all just disappeared overnight?
As if some has meddled with our metal.
“So, no more spoons and coins?
You can go ahead and say goodbye to that phone of yours.
And the tablet, TV, computer, all the blinky fun stuff.
They’re not just made of plastic and a glass screen.
Metals are most often used as conductors of electric current.
Without them, all our flashy toys are useless.
Plus, they have metal parts inside them.
And you know what all that means?
No more Internet – yep, it’s getting bad real fast!
All modern ways of communication are no longer.
You could write a letter, but how will you send it – carrier pigeons?
This metal-free world has also lost all modern means of transportation!
I suppose the mailperson could deliver letters on horseback?
Traffic jams of horses fill the roads!
You can probably forget about wooden carriages and buggies – how are you gonna cut down
Hold on a second – didn’t I just say metal is used to conduct electric currents?
“Yes, yes you did, Bright Side.”
Great, that means no more electricity.
No artificial light source will work without metal.
Even if we can somehow conduct current without metal wires, cords, and power lines, there
still won’t be any light, at least not at night.
After all, the simplest incandescent bulb works by tungsten metal being heated up.
Ok, I guess it’s back to candles…
But electricity isn’t just about lights and sockets.
You won’t have running water – the main station uses electricity!
Plus, showers and faucets are usually made of metal or brass.
All the men in the world will walk around with long beards.
We’ll have to cook on stone stoves, which is pretty tasty by the way.
Come to think of it, humanity is looking more and more like cavepeople…
Well, I’m stinky, hairy, and bored out of my mind without the Internet and TV.
I know, “no heavy metal!” if we’re still playing with that pun.
But the musicians won’t have any instruments!
Guitars might be made from wood, but those strings are usually steel.
But what about the tuning bits?
Ok, fine, give the drummer some bongos, and the lead guitarist can do a sick solo on some
Hope the singer can scream loud enough for everyone to hear, what without a mic and all!
And let’s not forget about the whole brass section, now playing on kazoos.
Maybe I just need a vacation?"Attention!
Passengers heading from New York to Paris – it’s now time to board the balloon."
Is that what we’d be dealing with in a world without metal planes and ships?
I guess travel comes to a screeching halt…
Now how’s that guy over there supposed to get on one knee and propose?
“My darling, will you marry me?”
And he wraps a piece of string around her finger?
Wait, I got it – everybody can use candy rings!
Finally, something cool I can get on board with!
Hey, buddy, congratulations on the engagement!
You might wanna get in shape before the wedding!
Ah, but in this metal-free world, there are no more weights at the gym – you now have
Yeah, a bit harder to get a good grip on.
Easy now, don’t hurt yourself!
He just dropped it on his leg!
From the gym to the hospital, this place also looks quite different!
Without metals, it won’t be possible to carry out an operation – even X-rays won’t
The images produced when X-rays pass through the body are put on a metal film.
Well, healing herbs and natural remedies will become the basis of the new “modern” medicine.
Hope you have something valuable to trade with the doctor for taking care of you!
Of course, there are no more metal coins – that’s obvious.
But paper production is very energy-intensive, which means paper money will disappear as
well.
Nuts, seeds, cereals, candy rings – yep, we’ll go back to bartering!
But this new economy has its advantages!
You don’t have to break your back in the office for a salary to buy new clothes.
It’ll be enough to catch more fish in the early morning and then exchange it for a linen
Imagine what the stock market would look like: "An unexpected surge of locusts heading south
– hurry, buy all the wheat shares!"
There wouldn’t even be a gym or hospital or any other building!
Besides the steel frame keeping the whole thing standing, a lot of the construction
materials like concrete and cement have metals in them too!
So, I guess we get to live in straw huts!
Well, we have to find a replacement for metal in this world, right?
The answer to this question isn’t even hypothetical!
Scientists have recently invented heavy-duty polymers – a special plastic that’s as
durable as iron, lighter than aluminum, and frost-resistant.
It’s also flexible and cheaper to manufacture.
But most importantly, polymers can conduct electric currents!
Does this mean we’re saved from living in the Stone Age?!
Sure, if you don’t get technical.
But if you do, then I have some bad news…
There are metals in the human body.
I’m not talking about your grandma’s metal hip replacements or Uncle Jim’s pacemaker.
About 3% of your total body weight is just metals.
Doesn’t seem like much, but you don’t wanna take them out, trust me…
A person needs it for strong bones and teeth.
So without it, our skeleton would become fragile like glass.
- Your muscles need potassium and sodium to work properly.
Without these metals, you might have constant muscle cramps, and you probably wouldn’t
- Zinc keeps the immune system in working order.
That’s what helps your body fight off sicknesses and heal cuts and wounds!
- Magnesium is one of the most important metals in the body.
It affects memory, speech, thinking, and attention.
- You also have enough iron in you to make a small nail.
Iron helps saturate the body's cells with oxygen.
You know, that stuff you need to breathe in to, um, live?!
Speaking of oxygen, magnesium plays a similar role in plants as iron does with moving oxygen
in animals – it’s essential for photosynthesis.
That’s how they turn carbon dioxide into the oxygen we breathe!
Good thing you get all the metals you need from your food, and plants get all the magnesium
they need from the Earth’s soil.
What would happen to the planet itself if all the metals disappeared?
Doesn’t it have a core made of iron and nickel?
Without the core, Earth loses its magnetic field.
And we need that protective magnetic bubble because it keeps the ozone layer in place!
The ozone, in turn, protects the planet and everything on it from the sun’s UV radiation!
For that matter, all the Earth’s layers are made up of different metals.
The mantle has a bunch of iron, magnesium, and aluminum.
The crust (that’s the surface part we’re all walking around on) is mostly oxygen, but
it also has aluminum, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium (yep, a lot of the
stuff that makes up your body!).
So, no metal, no you, no me, no Iron Maiden (or Iron Man!), and no Earth!
Phew!
Good thing this is all just hypothetical!
No more meddling with my metal, okay?
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