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The aluminum It is the third most abundant chemical element in the earth's crust, and constitutes approximately 7% of its mass. It's about a off-white and silver metal, characterized by being very resistant to corrosion.
It was discovered at the beginning of the 19th century, by the German scientist Friedrich Wohler who was able to isolate it in its pure form, obtaining the isolated element that is very light, and the second best malleable metal that exists.
Chemical properties
As said, aluminum belongs to the group of metals, which tend to be soft and present relatively low melting points. The state of aluminum (whose chemical symbol is Al) is solid in its natural form, and has a melting point of 933.47 degrees Kelvin (661.32 degrees Celsius) and a boiling point of 2792 degrees Kelvin (2519, 85 degrees Celsius).
Too: Examples of materials and their properties
Where is it extracted from?
Aluminum, which is a very important and useful element in human production, It is mainly extracted from bauxite which is a type of clay abundant in some countries like the United States.
This question of extraction is important because, although aluminum is a very common element in nature, It is never presented free but does so in a combined form. This is why a large part of the aluminum in the earth (usually that found in rocks) cannot be mined or used for production.
See also:
- Where is the oil extracted from?
- Where is the gold obtained from?
- Where is iron extracted from?
- Where is lead obtained from?
Aluminum processing
Two types of industrial processing are usually distinguished to obtain aluminum:
- Bayer process: The process begins by grinding the bauxite, and treating it with lime (CaO) hot. The thickest material, which is sand, is separated with this procedure, and a mixture remains that is allowed to cool until a solid precipitates. This solid is mixed with water and calcined, in such a way as to obtain the aluminum itself.
- Hall-Héroult process: What is done here is to reduce the Aluminum cation that has 3 positive ions to one that has no charge. What is done is a passage of electric current through the reaction cell, for which it needs to melt the aluminum mixed with oxygen. Sometimes it is mixed with cryolite so that the melting temperature is lower, so as not to need reactors that operate at such a high temperature to obtain the aluminum.
Uses of aluminum
What is aluminum for? The importance of obtaining aluminum can be verified in the large number of uses that this element has in industry:
- It is used to manufacture large quantities of cans and of foil, usual in packaging.
- The minting of coins many times uses aluminum.
- Aluminum is added to aviation fuel.
- Much of the cabling of cities is made of aluminum.
- The masts of the sailing boats they are usually made of aluminum.
- The household utensils they are almost always made of aluminum.
- The means of transport have a large proportion of aluminum, among which are cars, planes, trucks, trains, boats and bicycles.
- The heat absorption capacity makes aluminum used in the electronicsto avoid overheating.
- The street lights they are usually of this material
- In the Water treatment aluminum is usually involved.
Sustainable
Much of the importance of aluminum is in being a sustainable material, since maintaining current production levels (or growing at the rate that it has been doing), it is estimated that known bauxite reserves will last for hundreds of years. Furthermore, almost all aluminum products can be repeatedly recycled to produce new products, without losing the metal's quality and properties.
