Aluminum Essay -- essays research papers

Aluminum, symbol Al, the most abundant metallic element in the earth's crust. The atomic number of aluminum is 13; the element is in group 13 (IIIa) of the periodic table. Hans Christian Orstead, Danish chemist, first isolated aluminum in 1825, using a chemical process involving potassium amalgam. Between 1827 and 1845, Friedrich WÃ ¶hler, a German chemist, improved Oersted's process by using metallic potassium. He was the first to measure the specific gravity of aluminum and show its lightness. In 1854 Henri Sainte-Claire Deville, in France, obtained the metal by reducing aluminum chloride with sodium. Aided by the financial backing of Napoleon III, Deville established a large-scale experimental plant and displayed pure aluminum at the Paris Exposition of 1855. Aluminum is a lightweight, silvery metal. The atomic weight of aluminum is 26.9815; the element melts at 660Â ° C (1220Â ° F), boils at 2467Â ° C (4473Â ° F), and has a specific gravity of 2.7. Aluminum is a strongly electropositive metal and extremely reactive. In contact with air, aluminum rapidly becomes covered with a tough, transparent layer of aluminum oxide that resists further corrosive action. For this reason, materials made of aluminum do not tarnish or rust. The metal reduces many other metallic compounds to their base metals. For example, when thermite (a mixture of powdered iron oxide and aluminum) is heated, the aluminum rapidly removes the oxygen from the iron; the heat of the reaction is sufficient to melt the iron. This phenomenon is used in the thermite process for welding iron . The oxide of aluminum is amphoteric—showing both acidic and basic properties. The most important compounds include the oxide, hydroxide, sulfate, and mixed sulfate compounds. Anhydrous aluminum chloride is important in the oil and synthetic-chemical industries. Many gemstones—ruby and sapphire, for example—consist mainly of crystalline aluminum oxide. Aluminum is the most abundant metallic constituent in the crust of the earth; only the nonmetals oxygen and silicon are more abundant. Aluminum is never found as a free metal; commonly as aluminum silicate or as a silicate of aluminum mixed with other metals such as sodium, potassium, iron, calcium, and magnesium. These silicates are not useful ores, for it is chemically difficult, and therefore an expensive process, to extract aluminum from them. bauxite an impure h... ...cling of such containers is an increasingly important energy-conservation measure. Aluminum's resistance to corrosion in salt water also makes it useful in boat hulls and various aquatic devices. A wide variety of coating alloys and wrought alloys can be prepared that give the metal greater strength, castability, or resistance to corrosion or high temperatures. Some new alloys can be used as armor plate for tanks, personnel carriers, and other military vehicles. In 1886 the world production of aluminum was less than 45 kg (less than 100 lb), and its price was more than $11 per kg (more than $5 per lb). In 1989, by contrast, the estimated world production of primary aluminum was 18 million metric tons and an estimated 4 million metric tons was produced in the United States alone, whereas the price of aluminum was less than $2 per kg. U.S. consumption, by major markets, consisted of containers and packaging, 31 percent; building and construction, 20 percent; transportation, 24 percent; electric equipment, 10 percent; consumer durables, 9 percent; and miscellaneous, 6 percent. In 1989, recycled aluminum accounted for over 20 percent of total aluminum consumption in the United States.