The quantity of metals is limited/unlimited.
Answers
Explanation:
The increasing depletion of fossil fuel reserves and scarcity of fresh water sources, the exhaustion of ore deposits, and the disappearance of topsoil all raise the question of whether our planet’s resources are on the verge of running out. Are we using more than we can afford, to the detriment of future generations? Researcher Anne-Sylvie André-Mayer offers a new perspective on a highly sensitive issue.
This article focuses on the management and use of metal resources, bearing in mind that they depend largely on the choices made in terms of energy supply. In 2013, an article published in Nature Geoscience1 provided a striking analysis of how transition to renewable energies would affect society's need for raw materials. Most notably, it pointed out that the construction of solar and wind energy installations would increase our consumption of rare metals and basic materials two-to-ten-fold over the next 35 years: 10-fold for glass, 6 to 10 for aluminum, 2 to 6 for steel, and 2 to 5 for copper.
Around 95 of the 118 elements in the periodic table are metals (or are likely to be such). The number is inexact as the boundaries between metals, nonmetals, and metalloids fluctuate slightly due to a lack of universally accepted definitions of the categories involved.