What is titanium? A mark in time, or just a mere passerby?

There are many who wonder what is titanium. The answer does not come as easy as you may think, but I'll try.

Remember those moments in history when humanity took giant leaps towards the next step of evolution? Millennia ago, one of our ancestors knocked two rocks together igniting the first flame. Another one attached the same rock on a branch and created the first multi-tool - it could be used both as a hammer and a deadly weapon. Later in the time table, copper appeared. It was a soft, yellow metal, easy to melt and process. But it yielded formidable results and it gave the name to an entire era.

But man is never satisfied. And its mind never rests and its needs are never completely fulfilled. The metal processing techniques got better and better, until out of the very depths of the earth that unveiled copper, a new star arose to be put in the forges of blacksmiths around the globe. Iron. Like its predecessor, iron spelled thousands of uses and become unconceivable in every aspect of human life until the very present of our time.

Today, we are witnesses of another great appearance on the metalworking scene. Because, what is titanium, if not the copper and iron of the modern age? It’s true that we don’t need swords and breastplates anymore, but nor these have the impact they used to have when they were first invented

Our future, humanity’s future, depends on its ability to invent and produce things that can decisively contribute in handling the impact we have on our environment, which can help us explore the outer space and reach the depths of our seas and oceans. These are things where we can use titanium, because no other metal has helped us until now.

I’m pretty sure that there is more to what is titanium. In the beginning, copper was a mere replacement of stone, and its greatest initial applications was the axe. It was only the invention of electricity that unveiled it’s more modern and most important use, the electrical cable

Who knows, a hundred years from now, what uses will titanium find? And we may find dental implants , or titanium bolts as outdated and obsolete as our grandparents found the copper axe when iron came in the market

Its worthwhile mentioning that the first uses of the great metals of each age were in jewelry. Titanium doesn’t miss this mark and I think that this is an important aspect of what tremendous impact will have on humanity until it will be replaced by something else.

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