Aluminum by David Jobs and Courtney Christiano

       Aluminum is a solid, not usually found by itself in nature. Aluminum is very conductive, meaning it conductucts heat and electricity very well. It is also vey Ductile and malleable, which allows the element to be bent or hammered into a shape (electrical wire). It is remarkable for its ability to resist corrosion due to the phenomenon of passivation (when a material becomes passive, or becomes less affected by environmental factors like air or water.

        Aluminum is good because it is used to make auto and airplane parts. Without it there would be no cars or airplanes. It is used to protect your house from weathering conditions like rain, wind, and snow. It is used to make siding and roofing on your home, along with being used to make window frames. It is also used, because aluminum is excellent at conducting electricity, to make light bulbs and electrical wire. Other elements would be a risk of starting a fire, not being able to be shaped, and not conducting enough electricity. Also used to make aluminum baseball bats.

       Aluminum was discovered in 1825 by a Danish chemist and physicists teacher Hans Christian Dersted. He developed a way to extract small amounts of aluminum from alum by having anhydrous aluminum chloride react with potassium amalgam. This produces a big chunk of metal with properties similar to the likes of tin.

       Aluminum is found all over the world, but mostly in Ghana, Indonesia, and Jamaica but it is found only in chemical compounds with other elements. These elements include sulfur, silicon, and oxygen. Pure metallic aluminum can be economically produced from aluminum oxide ore.

       Aluminum can easily be recycled because the surface quickly oxidizes to form an invisible barrier to corrosion. Aluminum is one of the most abundant element in the world and the most abundant metal in the earth’s crust. Without it the crust and everything above it wouldn’t exist.