Gold has chemical and physical properties, such as its ability to be worked with and its lack of chemical reactivity, that help explain the high value civilizations have placed upon it.

One type of gold coin is the krugerrand. Its ownership by countries, academic institutions and large corporations caused great turmoil. Please search the Internet to find out why. Write an essay on the subject.

Copper has been used for millennia, and is the main ingredient in bronze.

The upper peninsula of Michigan is rich in minerals and has a centuries-long history of mining for copper and other minerals. Prepare a photo-essay on the history of mining in the "U.P". An excellent starting point is a site at Michigan Technological University, at http://www.mg.mtu.edu/hist.htm.

Iron is the main component in steel.

Since steel is by far the greatest end-use of iron, we will focus this assignment on the properties of steel. Please go to the Internet and enter "steel composition" into you search engine. You will come up with a vast variety of compositions including many metals. Your goal is to find out why there are so many different steels. What different combinations are effective in what types of uses? One good place to start is with The Hendrix Group, at http://www.hghouston.com/ss_cat.html. Also, please make a short table with the composition of steels for several different products, such as knives, pans, etc.

Aluminum is considerably more reactive than iron and precious metals. It is used in many common products.

A diversion...please list 10 of the oddest uses you can find on the Internet for aluminum products. Here's one that we found. http://www.gapalum.com/Custom_Bumper/custom_bumper.html.

The nature of electron sharing in metals explains their properties such as malleability and electrical conductivity.

In this chapter we have focused on four metals - gold, copper, aluminum and iron. Yet there are so many other metals in the periodic table! Please go the WebElements site at http://www.webelements.com, and any other useful sites. Find the industrial applications for five elements in periods 5 and 6 of the periodic table.

The economic cost of corrosion (wearing away by chemical action) of metals in substantial

The "Corrosion Doctors" have a Web site athttp://www.corrosion-doctors.org/Training/Frames.htm. In the left-hand frame, please click on the link to "high school projects" (but they are great for college as well!). Please click on this link to get some ideas for experiments concerned with corrosion. Based on one of these ideas, design and run such an experiment. Write a lab report on your work.

Coal and oil are called fossil fuels because they are the result of transformed plants buried millions of years ago. Their most widely-known use is as fuels, but they are also the basis of a great deal of organic chemistry.

The American Petroleum Institute has a Web site at http://www.api.org. Please go to the site (skip the intro). Your goal is to find out what the institute is all about. Specifically, whom do they represent? What is their point of view? Pick an issue discussed on their site. What is their position? What is your position? Are the two the same? If so, why? If not, why not? Please use data to support your answers to all of these questions.

Soil is a terrifically complex mixture. Different compositions of soil are good for different uses. Clay compounds are all based on silicon and oxygen.

The LaMotte Corporation makes many different types of portable testing kits. Several of these test soils for several kinds of things. Please go to the Web site at http://www.lamotte.com/WEB-SITE/ENV/SOIL.HTM. What do the LaMotte soil kits test for? Surf the Web (or use other resources) and write a sentence on the role of each of these tested items (such as pH) to healthy soil.

Mother Earth has given us limited resources which must be cherished and protected.

Surf the Internet to find out: How much gold, copper, aluminum and petroleum can be abstracted from Mother Earth? How many years supply of each is there?