Why are the top three places in a competition associated with Gold, Silver and Bronze respectively?
In: Other
Those three metals were once thought to be rare and are considered important to human history. They are also shiny.
Somewhat speculative: they followed the same trend as coins. You want coins made of metals that are easy to work with, but don’t tarnish badly. Gold, silver, and copper fit that bill nicely. They’re a bit soft, so we add a bit of other metals to make them more durable. With gold and silver, we still call them gold and silver alloys when we do that. With copper there’s 2 distinct kinds of alloys that got different names, brass and bronze. Bronze is harder than brass, so it’s a better choice for coins.
Latest Answers