Excerpt from Stuff Matters

By Mark Miodownik

In the absence of copper, gold, and meteoric iron, our ancestors’ tools during the Stone Age were made of flint, wood, and bone. Anyone who has ever tried to make anything with these kinds of tools knows how limiting they are: if you hit a piece of wood it either splinters, cracks, or snaps. The same is true of rock or bone. Metals are fundamentally different from these other materials because they can be hammered into shape: they flow, they are malleable. Not only that, they get stronger when you hit them; you can harden a blade just by hammering it. And you can reverse the process simply by putting metal in a fire and heating it up, which will cause it to get softer. The first people to discover these properties ten thousand years ago had found a material that was almost as hard as a rock but behaved like a plastic and was almost infinitely reusable. In other words, they had discovered the perfect material for tools, and in particular cutting tools like axes, chisels, and razors. This ability of metals to transform from a soft to a hard material must have seemed like magic to our ancient ancestors.

***

In 1961 Professor Richmond from Oxford University discovered a pit that had been dug by the Romans in AD 89. It contained 763,840 small two-inch nails, 85,128 medium nails, 25,088 large nails, and 1,344 extra-large sixteen-inch nails. The hoard was of iron and steel and not gold, which most people would have found bitterly disappointing. But not Professor Richmond. Why, he asked himself, would a Roman legion bury seven tons of iron and steel? The legion had been occupying the advance headquarters of Agricola in a place called Inchtuthil in Scotland. This was at the outer reaches of the Roman Empire, and their mission was to protect its border from what they saw as the savage tribes who threatened it: the Celts. The legion of five thousand men occupied the region for six years before retreating and, in the process, abandoning their fort. They made great efforts to leave behind nothing that could help their enemies. They smashed all food and drink containers and burned the fort to the ground. But they weren’t satisfied with this. In the ashes were the steel nails that had held the fort together, and they were far too valuable to be left to the tribes that had driven them out. Iron and steel were the materials that enabled the Romans to build aqueducts, ships, and swords; they allowed them to engineer an empire. Leaving the nails to their enemies would have been as useful as leaving a cache of weapons, so they buried them in a pit before marching south.
The reader can infer that the discovery of metal –

a) changed the face of hunting.

B) happened as an accident.

c) was the greatest discovery of all time.

d) changed humanity forever.

Answer:

D. hanged humanity forever.

Explanation:

According to the excerpt from Stuff Matters by Mark Miodownik, it is narrated that in the Stone Age, our ancestors made use of flint, wood and bone which were not reliable and malleable for use. However, metal was discovered which solved the earlier problem of using stones and bones for construction.

Metals were malleable and the process could be reversed by melting it. Therefore, the discovery of metal changed humanity forever.

PLS HURRY! 33 POINTS

What does Deza’s attitude toward the little boy she meets in the camp reveal about her character? Cite text evidence from the selection to support your answer.

How do you deal with difficult days?

Help me plz 50 points

Student Guide

Writing a Supreme Court Opinion

Assignment Information

Purpose

Write a Supreme Court opinion that describes your decision for United
States v. Fields.

Assignment Prompt

In this assignment, you will write a three-to four-paragraph Supreme Court opinion for
the fictional case of United States v. Fields. Remember, you are serving as a Supreme
Court justice. Your opinion must summarize the facts of the case, state your decision,
and cite precedent to support your ideas.

2. At first, Sindbad kicks
aside this precious
material because he is so..

Who did Douglass make into teachers?

Write sentences with the Past Continuous
in your notebooks.
1 the students / not eat / breakfast / in the
classroom / this morning​

Read the stage direction from act 1 of The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street. The crowd picks this up again and with it their suspicions come back with a rush. The murmur becomes a loud chant filling the air with accusations and demands for action. Two of the men pass Don right up the steps. Goodman flattens himself against the screen door. What does this stage direction tell the reader about Goodman’s viewpoint?
A. He is nervous the crowd may ask him to join them.
B. He is worried the crowd may take his generator.
C. He is frightened the crowd may harm him.
D. He is concerned the crowd may leave him by himself.
ill mark brainiest

Which combination of text structures is used in this
passage?

sequence and description

description and cause-effect

cause-effect and problem-solution

problem-solution and sequence

help pls .. Which story premise is most clearly a classic tragedy?

Please help me with this one I will mark you brainlist I swear

A story about a family trying to stick together and survive through the great depression in the midwest in the 1930s what is the authors purpose

fact or opinion Patrick Henry's speeches before the Virginia House of Burgesses were the most stirring political speeches made in colonial America.​

Which sentence from "Why Do We Lie?" best contradicts
this statement?
Choose 1 answer:

Vocabulary Skill Match the archaic word on the right with the correct modern definition on the left.



1.
mood


2.
hurt


3.
slow up; wait


4.
angry


5.
at once; soon



a.
soft
b.
humor
c.
tetchy
d.
scathe
e.
anon

How long does Penelope's shroud burial trick work for?

Which answers should you eliminate first if you are not sure of the answer? A. Highly Implausible answers. B. Highly plausible answers. C. Statements with the words "may" or "might". D. Positive statements.

Why is it important for a student to become familiar with a wide range of academic vocabulary words? Group of answer choices These words will be used to describe your academic performance and progress. Your parents will be pleased to hear you use these terms in everyday conversations. Your teachers are likely to quiz you regularly on the meaning of these words. These words are used to discuss school subjects in a serious, analytical way.

Read the following text:
The room was very dark, mainly from the many plants that blocked the sun coming from the single high window.

This text is an example of which of the following? (1 point)
_____________________________________________________
A. Backstory
B. Conflict
C. Plot
D. Setting

what colour rhymes with "colour"?

Which point of view does the narrator use in the passage? He laid down his fork. ... There was silence save for the tinkling of his brother's fork against a plate. He kept staring at his sister till her eyes fell. "I wish you'd let me eat," he said again. As he ate, he felt that they were thinking of the job he was to get that evening, and it made him angry; he felt that they had tricked him into a cheap surrender. From Richard Wright, Native Son. Copyright 1940 by Richard Wright first person second person third person limited third person omniscient​

Completa las frases con la forma correcta del verbo que se encuentra entre paréntesis; haciendo sus formas interrogativas, negativas y afirmaciones

1. She _____ (clean) up the kitchen by the time we arrived.

2. They _____ ( study) a lot the days before, so they were ready for the exam.

3.I ____ (be) at home all day. I had to get out and go for a walk.

4.She ____ (teach) Shakespeare before.

5._____ you _____ to that restaurant before?

6._____ you _____ (eat) breakfast when you left the house?

7.We ____ (not/finish) the document when the computer crashed.

8.She ____ (prepare) dinner before leaving for work that day.

9.I ____ (not/do) all my homework when I went to class.

10._____ you _____ (meet) her before?

which detail best supports the idea that in this futuristic setting the landscape is very dry?​

Henry thinks of himself as introverted a loving father a football player and smart these are all aspects of henrys

Diary entry about your feeling when you hame just returned from music competition​

The werid athlete stereotype is an example of a flat character.

True
False

A protagonist can do bad and villainous things and still be considered a protagonist.

True
False

From the article "CHARLES" on common lit
How does Charles’ behavior vary throughout the story?

A
Laurie describes Charles’ behavior as improving but having occasional setbacks.
B
Laurie describes Charles’ behavior as steadily improving throughout the story.
C
Laurie emphasizes how Charles is always misbehaving even if he’s not caught.
D
Laurie shows how Charles wants to change at the end of the story, but he doesn’t know how.

Which sentence contains a misplaced modifier?


After working with the trainer, I was able to get Champ to sit and stay.

The dog trainer worked easily with Champ using a bag of treats.

We take our new puppy, Champ, to dog training classes at the park.

The dog trainer showed us how to get Champ to sit on command.

Assignment 1:

Assignment: Focus on Commentary:

Reply to this with commentary that connects the evidence to the claim:

Claim: Another function of education is to promote the welfare of all children in the US.

Evidence: For example, public schools are provided with federal money to give impoverished children free meals.

Commentary: (complete this sentence) By ensuring students are fed...

If a sentence uses the conjunction while, what can you say about the two ideas in the sentence? A.They are happening at the same time B.They cannot happen at the same time. C.One happens before the other.

this is langauges arts WILL GIVE BLAINLEST IF YOU GET IT RIGHT

help anyone?? it would mean the world if you helped loolll