CHEM 120Element Project

11/12/11Brittany Jones

Aluminum

Aluminum History

Meaning – derived from the ancient name for alum (potassium aluminum sulphate), which was alumen (Latin, meaning bitter salt)

silver-white metallic element, light in weight, ductile, malleable, and not readily corroded or tarnished: used in alloys and for lightweight products.

Hans Christian Oersted a Danish physicist and

chemist discovered this element in Copenhagen Denmark in 1825

Properties of Aluminum

Atomic Number: 13

Atomic Weight: 26.9815

Melting Point: 933.437 K (660.323°C)

Boiling Point: 2740.15 K (2467°C)

Density: 2.70 grams per cubic centimeter

State at Room Temperature: Solid

Properties of Aluminum cont.

Element Classification: Metal

Period Number: 3

Group Number: 13

Group Name: none

Color: Silver

Major Isotopes: Al-26

Al-27 and Al-28

Aluminum Availability

Aluminum is not found free anywhere in nature in its purest form. Aluminum makes up about 8% of the earths crust, making it the most abundant metal found in the earths crust.Aluminum can be found in many minerals such as feldspars, granite, cryolite, and bauxiteAn interesting fact is that aluminum can be produced from clay, but like our lab, this is not economical at this time

Aluminum Availability cont.

In 1886 two scientists, one in France and one in America, discovered how to get aluminum from a process called electrolysis of cryolite (about)

This is one way to get aluminum from other materials. However today most scientists don’t use cryolite but they use a fake mixture of sodium, aluminum and calcium fluorides

Aluminum costs approximately one dollar, at it’s highest, a pound according to the local scrap yard.

Aluminum Uses

Common uses of Aluminum are aluminum foil, aluminum soda cans and food cans, bottle caps, car parts, electrical wiring, pie pans, cooking utensils, roofing and siding for barns and outdoor buildings, it is used in many electronic and electrical devices, water purification, paint, road signs, window frames, doorknobs, railings, curtain rods, golf clubs, ladders, horse bits and bridles, fencing, and the list goes on and on….

Common Compounds of Aluminum

Aluminum chloride- antiperspirant or deodorantsSodium aluminum fluoride- or better known as cryolite, mentioned earlier in this Power Point, which can be used to process aluminum but it is very rare Aluminum hydroxide is commonly used in antacids and it can also reduce phosphate levels in patients with kidney problemsAluminum potassium sulfate is used in baking powder and some medicines

Fun Facts Every minute of every day, an average of more than 123,000 aluminum cans are recycled.  Since 1972, an estimated 660-plus billion beverage cans have been recycled. This many cans could circle the world nearly 300 times.American consumers and industry throw away enough aluminum to rebuild the entire U.S. commercial air fleet every three months. Aluminum made up 1.5 percent of the total municipal solid waste stream in the United States in 1994 Rubies, emeralds and sapphires consist mainly of crystalline aluminum oxide.Manufacturers used Cold War technology to make Little League bats from aluminum. All of these fun facts are from http://acswebcontent.acs.org/landmarks/landmarks/al/facts.html

Sourceshttp://www.chemicalelements.com/elements/al.htmlhttp://chemistry.about.com/od/elementfacts/a/aluminum.htmhttp://environmentalchemistry.com/yogi/periodic/Al-compounds.htmlhttp://www.drugs.com/cdi/aluminum-chloride-solution.htmlhttp://www.galleries.com/Cryolitehttp://www.drugs.com/mtm/aluminum-hydroxide.htmlhttp://www.radiochemistry.org/periodictable/elements/13.htmlhttp://environmentalchemistry.com/yogi/periodic/Al-compounds.html http://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/al.htmhttp://sam.davyson.com/as/physics/aluminium/siteus/uses.htmlhttp://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele013.htmlhttp://environmentalchemistry.com/yogi/periodic/Al.htmlhttp://www.definitions.net/definition/aluminum