1825,1827: Aluminium - The book of science

Aluminium
Atomic number 13
History of the name
Commentary

Copenhagen, Berlin—Hans Christian Ørsted, Friedrich Wöhler elements

Aluminium

Some sources say
Ørsted isolated aluminium.
Others say he failed.
Some sources say
Wöhler showed
Ørsted’s method
didn’t work.
Others say Wöhler
didn’t know how
to make it work.
At any rate, one or
both of them
isolated aluminium
by reacting anhydrous
aluminium chloride
with potassium amalgam.

Atomic number 13

Light and bright
common as clay, rare as ruby
used in many alloys
for the statue of the Anteros in Piccadilly Circus
the capstone of the Washington Monument
and the Austin “A40 Sports”
delivers beer in cans
wraps casseroles in foil
swallowed as antacid tablets

History of the name

Humphry Davy named it alumium
after alum, which is aluminium sulfate
or hydrated potassium aluminium sulfate.
Davy’s idea was to use the -ium suffix
for metals, like silicium and glucium, because
he thought alumium would turn out to be a metal.
Someone, however, convinced Davy
to go with aluminum, which
became accepted in the United States.
The International Union of Pure
and Applied Chemistry, however, added back
the -ium suffix, resulting in aluminium.

As an citizen of the United States, I am likely to call this element “aluminum.” This spelling is printed on my box of Reynolds Wrap. Therefore, “aluminium” seems affected.

Before the introduction of the Hall-Héroult process in 1888, aluminium was more rare than silver. In 1884, the pyramidal aluminum apex for the Washington Monument was the largest piece of alumminum ever cast, at 100 ounces.