Roman metallurgy the most important being bronze, an alloy of copper and tin. Alloys are mixtures of different metals created either by smelting or by forging. It is important to note that an ore does not necessarily constitute an alloy; ore is a collection of minerals and alloyed metals. As metallurgical technology developed (hammering, melting, smelting, roasting, cupellation, moulding, smithing, etc.), more metals were intentionally included in the metallurgical repertoire. By the height of the Roman Empire, metals in use included: Gold, Silver, Copper, Tin, Lead, Zinc, Iron, Mercury, Arsenic, Antimony (Healy 1978). As in the Bronze Age, metals were used based
Antimicrobial copper-alloy touch surfaces surfaces typically manufactured with standard materials (i.e., plastic, chrome, aluminum) were replaced with copper alloys. These included a copper alloy set of sink tap handles (60% Cu, 40% Zn) and a ward entrance door push plate (70% Cu, 30% Zn). Contamination reductions of 90–100% were observed for "Staphylococcus aureus", "Escherichia coli", "Klebsiella pneumoniae", "Acinetobacter baumanii", "Enterococcus" spp., and "Candida albicans" on the copper alloy surfaces versus the non-copper standard surfaces. A microorganism reduction of 100% was observed on the hot tap copper alloy handle. The high degree of clinical performance suggested that copper alloy surfaces may increase the effectiveness of