Facts about Aluminum
Electric power represents about 20 to 40 percent of the cost of producing aluminum, depending on the location of the smelter.
Direct reduction—with carbon, for example—is not economically viable since aluminum oxide has a melting point of about 2,000 °C.
The invention of the Hall-Hйroult process in 1886 made extracting aluminum from minerals cheaper, and it is now the principal method used throughout the world.
Aluminum is a neurotoxin that alters the function of the blood-brain barrier.
By 1812, Davy had settled on aluminum, which (as other sources note) matches its Latin root.
Aluminum is used extensively in many places due to its high strength to weight ratio.
The strongest aluminum alloys are less corrosion resistant due to galvanic reactions with alloyed copper.
Hall's domination of production of the metal ensured that the spelling aluminum became the standard in North America; the Webster Unabridged Dictionary of 1913, though, continued to use the -ium version.
Aluminum electrolysis with the Hall-Hйroult process consumes a lot of energy, but alternative processes were always found to be less viable economically and/or ecologically.
The electrolytic process replaced the Wцhler process, which involved the reduction of anhydrous aluminum chloride with potassium.
Recycling involves melting the scrap, a process that uses only five percent of the energy needed to produce aluminum from ore.
The Canadian Oxford Dictionary prefers aluminum, whereas the Australian Macquarie Dictionary prefers aluminium.
Recycling was a low-profile activity until the late 1960s, when the growing use of aluminum beverage cans brought it to the public consciousness.
Before the development of methods to purify aluminum in large quantities, it was considered a precious metal more valuable than gold.
Today, new alloys, designs, and methods are used for aluminum wiring in combination with aluminum terminations.
Today, almost all bulk metal materials that are referred to loosely as "aluminum," are actually alloys.
Recovery of the metal via recycling has become an important facet of the aluminum industry.
Cryolite is a mixture of aluminum, sodium, and calcium fluorides: (Na3AlF6).
Research in this area has been inconclusive; aluminum accumulation may be a consequence of the Alzheimer's damage, not the cause.
Aluminum is one of the few metals that retain full silvery reflectance in finely powdered form, making it an important component of silver paints.
Aluminum alloys, like all structural alloys, also are subject to internal stresses following heating operations such as welding and casting.
When combining with other elements, aluminum can have different oxidation states: +1, +2, and +3.
Aluminum is highly resistant to corrosion, due to a thin surface layer of aluminum oxide that forms when the metal is exposed to air, effectively preventing further oxidation.
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) adopted aluminium as the standard international name for the element in 1990, but three years later recognized aluminum as an acceptable variant.
A group in the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed that sorghum's aluminum tolerance is controlled by a single gene, as for wheat.
The carbon cathode is protected by the liquid aluminum inside the cells.
The strength and durability of aluminum alloys varies widely, not only as a result of the components of the specific alloy, but also as a result of heat treatments and manufacturing processes.
The Hall-Heroult process, however, cannot produce Super Purity Aluminum directly.
IUPAC officially prefers the use of aluminium in its internal publications, although several IUPAC publications use the spelling aluminum.
Aluminum isotopes have found practical application in dating marine sediments, manganese nodules, glacial ice, quartz in rock exposures, and meteorites.
In 1926, the American Chemical Society officially decided to use aluminum in its publications; American dictionaries typically label the spelling aluminium as a British variant.
The use of aluminum cookware, popular because of its corrosion resistance and good heat conduction, has not been shown to lead to aluminum toxicity in general.
The aluminum oxide (a white powder) is obtained by refining bauxite in the Bayer process.
Napoleon III, Emperor of France, is reputed to have given a banquet where the most honored guests were given aluminum utensils, while the other guests had to make do with gold ones.
Both of the electrodes used in the electrolysis of aluminum oxide are carbon.
Aluminum (or aluminium) (chemical symbol Al, atomic number is 13) is a soft, lightweight metal with a silvery appearance and the ability to resist corrosion.
Aluminum alloys with a wide range of properties are used in engineering structures.
The problem with aluminum alloys in this regard is their low melting point, which make them more susceptible to distortions from thermally induced stress relief.
Aluminum compounds also serve a wide variety of purposes.
Structural components made from aluminum and its alloys are vital to the aerospace industry and very important in other areas of transportation and building.
Aluminum is a reactive metal that is difficult to extract from ore, aluminum oxide (Al2O3).
A lack of knowledge of these aspects has from time to time led to improperly designed structures and given aluminum a bad reputation.
One important structural limitation of aluminum alloys is their fatigue strength.
Pure aluminum serves as an excellent reflector (approximately 99%) of visible light and a good reflector (approximately 95%) of infrared.
Ancient Greeks and Romans used aluminum salts as mordants for dyeing and astringents for dressing wounds.
Excessive consumption of antacids containing aluminum compounds and excessive use of aluminum-containing antiperspirants are more likely causes of toxicity.
Aluminum has about 65 percent of the conductivity of copper, the traditional household wiring material.
Aluminum has many isotopes, of which only 27Al (stable isotope) and 26Al (radioactive isotope, t1/2 = 7.2 Ч 105 y) occur naturally.
Aluminum alloys form vital components of aircraft and rockets as a result of their high strength-to-weight ratio.
Friedrich Wцhler is generally credited with isolating aluminum (Latin alumen, alum) in 1827 by mixing anhydrous aluminum chloride with potassium.
Workshop procedures involving heating are complicated by the fact that aluminum, unlike steel, will melt without first glowing red.
Germany became the world leader in aluminum production soon after Adolf Hitler's rise to power.
The adaptation of wheat to allow aluminum tolerance is such that the aluminum induces a release of organic compounds that bind to the harmful aluminum cations.
Relatively pure aluminum is prepared only when corrosion resistance or workability is more important than strength or hardness.
In 1808, Humphry Davy identified the existence of a metal base of alum, which he at first named alumium and later aluminum (see Spelling section, below).
Cryolite is a mixture of aluminum, sodium, and calcium fluorides: (Na3AlF6).
The world-wide average specific energy consumption is approximately 15±0.5 kilowatt-hours per kilogram of aluminum produced from alumina.
In 2005, the People's Republic of China was the top producer of aluminum with almost one-fifth world share followed by Russia, Canada and USA reports the British Geological Survey.
Alum (potassium aluminum sulfate or a related salt) is still used as a styptic.
Another important property of aluminum alloys is their sensitivity to heat.
The yield strength of pure aluminum is 7-11 MPa, while aluminum alloys have yield strengths ranging from 200 to 600 MPa.
Aluminum is primary among the factors that contribute to the loss of plant production on acid soils.
How aluminum is made. ... Once mined, aluminum within the bauxite ore is chemically extracted into alumina, an aluminum oxide compound, through the Bayer process. In a second step, the alumina is smelted into pure aluminum metal through the Hall–Héroult process.
Aluminium is a silvery-white, lightweight metal. It is soft and malleable. Aluminium is used in a huge variety of products including cans, foils, kitchen utensils, window frames, beer kegs and aeroplane parts. This is because of its particular properties.
It's actually quite intriguing how it came to be – first starting with Sir Humphry Davy's not being able to make a decision: Sir Humphry made a bit of a mess of naming this new element, at first spelling it alumium (this was in 1807) then changing it to aluminum, and finally settling on aluminium in 1812.Apr 8, 2009
Aluminum and aluminium are two names for element 13 on the periodic table. In both cases, the element symbol is Al, although Americans and Canadians spell and pronounce the name aluminum, while the British (and most of the rest of the world) use the spelling and pronunciation of aluminium.Mar 8, 2017
Aluminium corrosion resistance. Aluminium corrosion resistance is very good in untreated aluminium. Untreated aluminium has very good corrosion resistance in most environments. This is primarily because aluminium spontaneously forms a thin but effective oxide layer that prevents further oxidation.
Aluminum also has thermal conductivity, and thus can spread both heat and cooling quickly. ... On a quick side note: aluminum does conduct electricity quite well; twice as well as copper, in fact. Unfortunately, aluminum oxide, does not. You can also be sure that, if you have aluminum electrical wiring, it will oxidize.
For example, copper is used for electrical wiring because it is a good conductor of electricity. Metal particles are held together by strong metallic bonds, which is why they have high melting and boiling points. The free electrons in metals can move through the metal, allowing metals to conduct electricity.