Aluminum: The Metallic
Element
By Michele Khan
General Properties
• Aluminum is a soft, durable,
lightweight, ductile and
malleable metal
• Aluminum is nonmagnetic
• It is insoluble in alcohol, though
it can be soluble in water in
certain forms
• Aluminum has about one-third
the density and stiffness of
steel.
• Aluminum is a good thermal
and electrical conductor (62%
the conductivity of copper)
• Atomic radius of 143 pm
General
Properties
Name, symbol,
number
Aluminum, Al, 13
Element Category
Other metal
Group, Period,
Block
13, 3, p block
Standard Atomic
Weight
26.98
Electron
Configuration
[Ne] 3s2 3p1
Electrons per shell
2, 8, 3
Physical Properties
Phase
Solid
Density
2.70 g·cm−3
Liquid Density at m. p.
2.375 g·cm−3
Melting Point
933.47 K, 660.32 °C, 1220.58 °F
Boiling Point
2792 K, 2519 °C, 4566 °F
Heat of Fusion
10.71 kJ·mol−1
Heat of Vaporization
294.0 kJ·mol−1
Specific Heat Capacity
(25 °C) 24.200 J·mol−1·K−1
Aluminum’s Discovery
• Aluminum metal first produced
in 1895 by Danish physicist and
chemist Hans Christian Oersted.
• He reacted anhydrous aluminum
chloride with potassium
amalgam and produced a lump
of metal looking similar to tin.
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Economics
• Aluminum is widely used throughout
the U.S economy, especially in
transportation, packaging, and
construction industries.
• Aluminum important when applied
to the infrastructure, aerospace, and
defense industries.
• In the U.S, the aluminum industry is
the world's largest, accounting for
the 17% of the world's primary
aluminum production in 1997.
• Production and shipments of
aluminum have risen steadily since
1994.
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Environment
Although Aluminum is the most abundant element
in the earth’s crust, it is not found freely in natureit is combined with other elements to form
compounds.
• The most common compounds are alum:
- potassium aluminum sulfate
(KAl(SO4)2·12H2O),
- and aluminum oxide (Al2O3).
• About 8.2% of the earth's crust is composed of
aluminum.
Health: How Does Aluminum
Affect Human Health?
• Workers who breathe large amounts of Al dusts can have lung problems –
such as coughing or changes that show up in x-rays
• Oral exposure to aluminum is usually not harmful. Some studies show that
people exposed to high levels of aluminum may develop Alzheimer’s
disease, but other studies have not found this to be true. We do not know
for certain that aluminum causes Alzheimer’s disease.
• People who have kidney disease store a lot of aluminum in their bodies.
The kidney disease causes less aluminum to be removed from the body in
the urine. Sometimes, these people developed bone or brain diseases that
doctors think were caused by the excess aluminum.
• Although aluminum-containing over the counter oral products are
considered safe in healthy individuals at recommended doses, some
adverse effects have been observed following long-term use in some
individuals.
Interesting Facts about
Aluminum
• Aluminum is the most abundant metal in the Earth's
crust
• Everyone has minute amounts of aluminum in their
bodies
• Aluminum has two spellings: Aluminum and Aluminium
• Aluminum weighs about one-third as much as copper
or steel
• The melting point of aluminum is 1221 °F / 660 °C
• Aluminum was discovered by Danish chemist Hans
Christian Oersted in 1825 (Hans also discovered
electromagnetism)