Even children know that aluminum is actively used in modern industry, including in the construction of aircraft. However, not every adult is aware that this metal was once much more expensive than gold. Until a few centuries ago, people thought about making it a new precious metal. However, almost one single discovery by scientists turned the market upside down and made aluminum as we know it today. What was the essence of the matter?
When was aluminum discovered and why was it more expensive than gold?
In the family of metals most widely known among the general mass of people, aluminum is perhaps the most "late child". It was discovered only in the 19th century, although mankind has known about aluminum salts (alum) since antiquity. They were actively used in various fields, but first of all, aluminum alum was used in medicine. Until 1807, few people would have thought that this material could be found and used in its purest form. Humanity learned about "pure" aluminum only thanks to the works of the British chemist Humphry Davy.
It was he who was the first to prove that alum contains not only salt, but also metal. Actually the name "aluminum" comes from the Latin word "Alum", which is translated as "alum". At the same time, for the first time, aluminum was able to be isolated only in 1825. The pioneer in this field was the Danish chemist Hans Christian Oersted, who experimented with potassium amalgam and aluminum chloride.
The first "clean" aluminum actually turned out to be very dirty with a lot of impurities. European chemists were able to improve its production only by 1954, but even then its production was extremely difficult and expensive. And given the fact that the aluminum content in the earth does not exceed 8% and in the form of rock (such as gold or iron) does not occur at all, all this made the resulting product astronomically expensive. Aluminum turned out to be many times more expensive than gold. All this made people perceive the new material exclusively as decorative.
The most graphic illustration of the attitude of people towards aluminum in the 19th century is two facts. The first is that in France in 1855 an exhibition of "achievements of the national economy" was held at which showed (as much as whole !!!) 12 aluminum ingots, each of which was cast on the personal order of Napoleon III. The second is that the already mentioned emperor of the Second Empire had a set of cutlery made of this "precious" metal.
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What has collapsed the price of a promising "jewel"
The situation with the price of aluminum changed in 1886. A truly great discovery, which had a dramatic effect on the entire world industry, was simultaneously made by two scientists: the American Charles Martin Hall and the Frenchman Paul-Louis-Toussaint. The method they created for the production of aluminum eventually received the name "Hall-Heroult Process", since it was impossible to count the right to discover one of the scientists. The mass production of the metal of the future was based on the method of electrolysis of aluminum oxide and cryolite.
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In the very first year after the opening, the price of aluminum on the exchange fell five times. Back in the middle of the 19th century, 1 kg of this material cost about 1,200 US dollars (in terms of today's dollars, the price will be much higher). At the same time, already at the beginning of the 20th century, 1 kg of aluminum on the market was worth less than 1 US dollar. True, the aluminum obtained by Eru and Hall had a terrible drawback - the material was very fragile. But scientists managed to solve this problem already in 1903 by adding copper and proper heating. As a result, the first modern aluminum was produced at a plant in Düren, Germany in 1911, for which it will receive the well-known name "duralumin".
If you want to know even more interesting things, then you should read about 11 largest ships in the world, whose size is comparable to floating cities.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/010920/55859/