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 |  One hundred facts that are interesting but ultimately useless. |
| Aluminum - history - Because of its reactive nature, pure aluminum is rarely found via mining, and is instead mainly obtained through chemical refinement. In the mid-1800s, when this refinement process was still in its infancy, the scarcity of pure aluminum made it extremely valuable. In France, aluminum was used frequently by the upper class as jewelry, and aluminum ingots were displayed with pride at national exhibitions. A popular tale recounts how most formal dinner guests of Emperor Napoleon III would eat with gold utensils, but the most important and most honored would be supplied with aluminum instead. In the late-1880s, researchers developed a system of chemical electrolysis that could extract aluminum easily and cheaply from certain common ores. As a result, the market price of aluminum dropped to a tiny fraction of its prior value, and wider applications of the once-rare metal became feasible. #035 |
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