Aluminum Essay

Aluminum, or Aluminium, as the British call it is considered one of many “poor” metals. Being very malleable, it can be made into any shape. It is often pressed into thick aluminum plates of armor for tanks or into thin pieces to make wrappers and foil. Aluminum is extremely popular because it does not rust and can withstand all kinds of chemicals and weather conditions.

Aluminum is number thirteen on the periodic table and it’s atomic weight is twenty seven. The melting point of aluminum is 660.2 degrees Celsius. The density of Aluminum is 2.7 grams per cubic centimeter. In nature, aluminum cannot be found uncombined.

Aluminum is easily shaped, light, and can be very strong. Pure aluminum is actually rather weak, but by heating and adding

This quality has allowed aluminum to be used instead of steel in many cases. For example, most parts for cars, planes, and trucks are made with aluminum instead of steel because a lighter body means that less fuel is required to move it, making transportation cheaper. Lithium, the lightest metal there is, can be added to aluminum to make it even lighter. Things that are packaged in aluminum cost less to ship because the containers they are being carried in weigh less than containers made out of other metals. With vehicles, the radiator, drive shafts, engine block, body panels, and wheels are just a few parts that can be made out of aluminum alloys. Because of this, the car weighs less and needs less fuel. Unfortunately, the price increases, so most cars and trucks are still made of

This is because aluminum is never found purely in nature and up until the 1800s, no one had the technology required to separate the chemical compounds it was in. One of the main reasons that you cannot find aluminum in its pure form anywhere in nature is its strong attraction to oxygen.

As aluminum is a very reactive metal, when first exposed to air, it forms a coating that protects it from almost anything. Some of its few weaknesses are alkalis and acids. Even with the oxide coating, this amphoteric metal can be dissolved from bauxite to leave the ore alone as a solid. This useful process is called the Bayer Process.

A rocky red material, bauxite contains aluminum oxide and many unwanted substances, and to make aluminum, it has to be concentrated to get rid of all of the unwanted substances. It is then sent to a refinery where aluminum is then produced. Alumina is partly purified bauxite that still consists of oxygen and aluminum. To get to the aluminum, alumina is dissolved and aluminum is then recovered by