Essay on the Production of Aluminium
Aluminium is the 3rd most abundant element in the Earth’s crust and is present as 7.3% by mass. In nature it is only stable when bonded to other elements, particularly in the form of silicates and oxides as it is too reactive to occur free in nature. By 1808 its existence was first established and it took many years to release the metal from its ore and many more years to produce a viable, commercial production process. By 1886 Charles Hall discovered a cheap method of extracting aluminium from its ore.
