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Show Magic Metal Tantalum, rare magic metal that has been biding in rocks In a few scattered places since the earth was built, has been brought into the open by the war and the age of electronics. electron-ics. The existence of the element one of the 92 jig-saw puzzle pieces of which the universe is made was demonstrated in 1803; but it was not seen in metallic form until a hundred hun-dred years later. Because it seemed in reach but couldn't quite be grasped, it was named for Tantalus of the Greek myth. Tantalum is so rare that importations impor-tations of the ore usually are measured meas-ured in pounds rather than in tons. So vital has it become in war industries in-dustries that a bit of the metal weighing more than an ounce cannot can-not be sold by manufacturers without with-out a special allocation order. |