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little history … Aluminium is a metal (element) found naturally in the earth. It is the third most common element and the most common element in the earth's crust. It is estimated that 8% of the earth's crust is aluminium. The next metal is iron with a portion of approximately 6%. Our ancestors already used it as a metal. However, we currently no longer know which processes they used to manufacture the light metal. Science first began to be interested in the earth metal composition in the 18th century. In 1761 the French chemist Guyton de Morveau suggested the name of "alumine" for the base metal of alum. In 1782 Lavoisier, who had previously collaborated with Guyton de Morveau, announced that alumina was the oxide of an unknown metal. Sir Humphrey Davy, an English chemist tried to extract Lavoisier's unknown metal from potash alum. Even though he did not succeed, he still named the metal "alumium". He later changed this to "aluminum". Shortly afterwards the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemists (IUPAC) added an "i" to bring the name into line with the common "-ium" ending of other elements. Both versions existed side by side for quite some time with aluminium actually also being the official spelling in the USA. Only in 1925 did the American Chemical Society official decide to use the aluminum spelling in their publications and this is now the common form in the USA. The Dane Oersted is credited with first isolating the aluminium metal in 1825, but it was the German Wöhler who actually first produced pure aluminium in 1827. In addition to alum, aluminium is also found in bauxite. This material was first discovered in Les Baux in the south of France in 1821.  Overview |
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