We can do quite a lot with light elements now, after we spent millennia figuring out metals. We still use a lot of metal equipment and catalysts in the manufacturing of polymers and carbon fiber. I’m sure there are processes for making them without metals, but getting civilization going in the first place would be much harder without elements heavier than iron.
We can do quite a lot with light elements now, after we spent millennia figuring out metals. We still use a lot of metal equipment and catalysts in the manufacturing of polymers and carbon fiber. I’m sure there are processes for making them without metals, but getting civilization going in the first place would be much harder without elements heavier than iron.