What is aluminum? Detailed answer

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What is aluminum? Detailed answer

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What is aluminum?

Aluminum is a silvery white lustrous metal that is about three times lighter than iron. It can be drawn into a wire thinner than the finest hair, and made into plates as thick as a drawing sheet. It may come as a bit of a surprise to you that it is the most abundant metal on earth. It makes up about 8 percent of the total mass of the earth's crust.

However, aluminum is never found in its pure form in nature. Easily interacting with other elements and substances, it forms compounds that are part of the soil and rocks. Many beautiful gemstones - sapphires, rubies, garnets and others - are aluminum compounds. For a long time, the problem of separating aluminum from other substances was very difficult to solve, and therefore it was very expensive.

In 1886, chemist Charles Martin Hall found a cheap way to obtain this metal in large quantities. In the melt of cryolite, which is a compound of aluminum and sodium with fluorine, he dissolved a small amount of aluminum oxide. Then he placed the mixture in a granite vessel and passed a constant electric current through it. After a couple of hours, he found at the bottom of the vessel small shiny "buttons" consisting of pure aluminum. This method still underlies the production of almost all metallic aluminum produced in the world.

Cryolite has only been found in Greenland, but it can be obtained artificially. The main raw material for the production of aluminum is its oxide, which is part of bauxite. Their deposits are found in many regions of the world.

Aluminum is an almost ideal material for making kitchen utensils as it conducts heat well and is easy to clean. However, it is especially widely used in aircraft construction and in the manufacture of machine engines.

Author: Likum A.

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