Aluminum is the Third Most Abundant Element in the Earth's Crust

Name: Aluminum
Type: Metal
Density @ 293 K: 2.702 g/cm³
Symbol: Al
Atomic weight: 26.98154
Atomic volume: 9.98 cm³/mol  

Aluminum is the third most abundant element in the Earth's crust (after oxygen and silicon). It is never exists as a sole element, but is always bonded with another element, making extraction necessary. This was not easily or efficiently possible until the 1880s when 2 processes were invented to extract aluminum from aluminum oxide and from bauxite.

The first of these aluminum extraction methods is the Hall Herout Method which involves dissolving aluminum oxide. This was discovered in 1885. The Bayer Method, discovered in 1889 extracts aluminum from bauxite. With these 2 discoveries, aluminum became cheap and readily available.It is now widely used as foil which we frequently use in the kitchen and as soda containers.




There are other uses for aluminum:

• It is used in jet fuel
• Electrical wiring is sometimes made from aluminum or a combination of aluminum and copper
• Baseball bats are often made out of aluminum
• Parts for cars, planes, boats, and bicycles are made from aluminum
• Street lights are made from aluminum

Aluminum absorbs heat very quickly. Aluminum foil heats up very fast in the oven, but because it is so thin, it quickly loses the heat. That is why it can be handled even when immediately removed from the oven.

Note: Most of the world refers to aluminum as aluminium.

Something else I learned: The Hall Heroult Method of aluminum extraction was discovered simultaneously, yet separately by a scientist in France and a scientist in the US.