tead Of Gold
How precious becomes common: the story of aluminum
[IMG]http://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1176/1*kaiJFu6h-JqK-OEA3dL4oA.png[/IMG] Washington Monument Capstone (1934) — Theodor Horydczak /
We often take the world around us for granted. The changes that have taken place over the past 200 years are startling to the point of amazement. An example of this incredible development would be one of the most common metals that surrounds you every day.
I’m sure you take no notice of the simple aluminum can that gets tossed idly into the recycling bin. You don’t consider that same metal is in the plane that flies your Amazon packages to you or the car that gets you to work. It’s cheap, soft, and lightweight. It’s so common it doesn’t even garner a second look from most.
However, in the early 1800’s this metal we take for granted was as valuable as gold. Napoleon III of France would show off his opulent personal of aluminum. The United States would demonstrate their new raising power by putting a 6 pound cap of aluminum on top of the Washington Monument. At the time this was the biggest chunk of the metal ever used.
George J. Binczewskiin the describes the incredible effort and cost to make this cap. In 1884 aluminum was $16 per pound. To put that into perspective, the average worker on the monument would earn $1 per ten hour working day — the same cost as one ounce of the metal. By the way, the final cost of the cap ended up being $220 or the equivalent of 2,200 hours of labor.
Binczewski also points out that modern day polishing techniques weren’t known at that time. In order for this perfect pyramid with engraving to be made, it would have to be cast and re-cast until it was perfect. This would be done at a smelting facility in Philadelphia. Binczewski actually found a copy for the original request for manufacture of the cap from Colonel Thomas Lincoln Case in the National Archives. The Colonel originally wasn’t thinking about using aluminum. The smelter, William Frishmuth, would make the suggestion. [IMG]http://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1160/1*kzsGkASS2uhW2jPznfLCuQ.gif[/IMG] Journal , 47 (11) (1995), pp. 20–25 — Letter Copied From Rare But Everywhere
For instance, rubies and sapphires are mainly made of aluminum oxides. It created a dilemma very similar to the by Fritz Haber. Nitrogen is the most plentiful gas in our atmosphere, yet until the early 1900’s it proved impossible to pull out of the air. In the early 1800’s chemists would find themselves having the same issue with aluminum.
How precious becomes common: the story of aluminum
[IMG]http://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1176/1*kaiJFu6h-JqK-OEA3dL4oA.png[/IMG] Washington Monument Capstone (1934) — Theodor Horydczak /
“It is almost impossible to imagine our world without aluminum. Almost everywhere you look you see items made of this silver-white metal — from the pots in the kitchen to the airplanes flying overhead. Although aluminium is the most abundant metal on earth, no one had ever seen it until 1825.”
— , Robert Brent, pg 65
— , Robert Brent, pg 65
We often take the world around us for granted. The changes that have taken place over the past 200 years are startling to the point of amazement. An example of this incredible development would be one of the most common metals that surrounds you every day.
I’m sure you take no notice of the simple aluminum can that gets tossed idly into the recycling bin. You don’t consider that same metal is in the plane that flies your Amazon packages to you or the car that gets you to work. It’s cheap, soft, and lightweight. It’s so common it doesn’t even garner a second look from most.
However, in the early 1800’s this metal we take for granted was as valuable as gold. Napoleon III of France would show off his opulent personal of aluminum. The United States would demonstrate their new raising power by putting a 6 pound cap of aluminum on top of the Washington Monument. At the time this was the biggest chunk of the metal ever used.
George J. Binczewskiin the describes the incredible effort and cost to make this cap. In 1884 aluminum was $16 per pound. To put that into perspective, the average worker on the monument would earn $1 per ten hour working day — the same cost as one ounce of the metal. By the way, the final cost of the cap ended up being $220 or the equivalent of 2,200 hours of labor.
Binczewski also points out that modern day polishing techniques weren’t known at that time. In order for this perfect pyramid with engraving to be made, it would have to be cast and re-cast until it was perfect. This would be done at a smelting facility in Philadelphia. Binczewski actually found a copy for the original request for manufacture of the cap from Colonel Thomas Lincoln Case in the National Archives. The Colonel originally wasn’t thinking about using aluminum. The smelter, William Frishmuth, would make the suggestion. [IMG]http://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1160/1*kzsGkASS2uhW2jPznfLCuQ.gif[/IMG] Journal , 47 (11) (1995), pp. 20–25 — Letter Copied From Rare But Everywhere
“It was decided: First, that the projectile should be a shell made of aluminum with a diameter of 108 inches and a thickness of twelve inches to its walls; and should weigh 19,250 pounds. Second, that the gun should be a Columbiad cast in iron, 900 feet long, and run perpendicularly into the earth. Third, that the charge should contain 400,000 pounds of gun-cotton, which, giving out six billions of litres of gas in rear of the projectile, would easily carry it toward the orb of night.” — Jules Verne, , 1865
In Sarah Laskow’s in the Atlantic, she describes some of the difficulties aluminum posed. First, aluminum technically isn’t rare, it’s one of the most plentiful substances on the planet. However, she describes aluminum as a “friendly metal”. It has a habit of co-mingling with other substances and bonding tightly.For instance, rubies and sapphires are mainly made of aluminum oxides. It created a dilemma very similar to the by Fritz Haber. Nitrogen is the most plentiful gas in our atmosphere, yet until the early 1900’s it proved impossible to pull out of the air. In the early 1800’s chemists would find themselves having the same issue with aluminum.
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