Old iron built to last according to an article in New Scientist, 3 August 2002, p9. A six tonne iron pillar in Delhi, India has intrigued scientists for many years because it has been standing for over 1600 years out in the weather with almost no signs of corrosion. A material engineer at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, recently analysed the metal, found it has a coating of iron hydrogen phosphate hydrate which prevents oxygen in the air reacting with the iron to form rust. Modern day iron smelting uses limestone, which removes phosphorous. It seems the ancient iron-smiths of India used a method that didn’t involve limestone and preserved phosphorous in the iron. The phosphorous then reacts with the air to form the protective coating.
Editorial Comment: Sophisticated metal technology is not a product of the industrial revolution. It is one of the oldest technologies in the world. The Book of Genesis (Chapter 4) describes Tubal-Cain, making metal tools. The evolutionary story of mankind progressing from stone-age to simple metalworking to complex metalworking is the opposite of Biblical history. Metalworking was used before Noah’s flood and the knowledge would have been preserved by Noah’s family and passed on to their immediate descendants. When mankind was scattered after the Tower of Babel many of the scattered groups lost such knowledge. Some however retained it and archaeologists have found the evidence in many ancient civilisations, such as ancient India. The fact that this knowledge has been lost since those civilisations fell is evidence of the general degeneration of mankind that began with the entrance of sin into the world. (Ref. metalwork, technology, India)