PART 2

This passage is about aluminum.

Aluminum is a widely used metal which is light, both in color and weight. Many people do not realize that it was discovered relatively recently because the element, despite being plentiful in the earth’s crust, is never found in its pure form in nature. It is only found as part of a compound: in other words, together with other elements.

Aluminum compounds have been used for thousands of years, but it wasn’t until the beginning of the nineteenth century that aluminum was identified as an element. However, it was difficult to isolate from other elements, so it was very rare and valuable. Ironically, a famous British chemist, Sir Humphry Davy, gave the element its name, although the metal is now generally referred to as ‘aluminium’ in Britain.

Great progress was achieved in 1886 when two young scientists, one in the USA and the other in France, independently discovered a commercially viable method of producing aluminum. This is still used today, and is known as the Hall-Heroult process, after the men who developed it. The ore which is most useful for extracting aluminum is bauxite and, although production of the metal is a lot less expensive than it used to be, it is still not cheap because it requires huge amounts of electricity. The metal is so useful, however, that there is great demand for it.

Aluminum is used in transportation, especially in the aerospace industry, and for the construction of buildings and furniture because it is so light and strong, and doesn’t corrode easily. It is commonly used to make containers, electrical appliances, cookware and sporting equipment, to name just a few everyday products. In fact, it is one of the most versatile materials available to us, and it’s easy to recycle.