Metals of antiquity Metals of antiquity The metals of antiquity are the seven metals which humans had identified and found use for in prehistoric times: gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, iron, and mercury. These seven are the metals from which the modern world was forged; until the discovery of arsenic in the 13th century, these were the only known elemental metals, compared to the 86 known today. The metals of antiquity generally have low melting points, with iron being the exception. While all the metals of antiquity but tin and lead occur natively, only gold and silver are commonly found as the native
Group 6 element The metals form compounds in different oxidation states: chromium forms compounds in all states from −2 to +6: disodium pentacarbonylchromate, disodium decacarbonyldichromate, bis(benzene)chromium, tripotassium pentanitrocyanochromate, chromium(II) chloride, chromium(III) oxide, chromium(IV) chloride, potassium tetraperoxochromate(V), and chromium(VI) dichloride dioxide; the same is also true for molybdenum and tungsten, but the stability of the +6 state grows down the group. Depending on oxidation states, the compounds are basic, amphoteric, or acidic; the acidity grows with the oxidation state of the metal. Tungsten has no known biological role in the human body. Seaborgium's high radioactivity would make it a toxic element, due to radiation