Aluminum

Al · Z 13

atomic number: 13
atomic mass: 26.982
notation: Al
group: 13: Boron
period: 3
state0c: Solid
state20c: Solid
occurrence: Primordial
density: 2.7
melting pt: 660.32
boiling pt: 2519
discovered: 1825
abundance: 82300
bio class: Not essential
ore grade: 250000
ore minerals: bauxite (gibbsite, boehmite, diaspore)
mined as: Primary

bio role

No known role, despite being the commonest metal in the crust — largely because it is locked in silicates and nearly insoluble at the pH life runs at.

extraction

Bauxite is strip-mined from tropical laterites, then digested in hot caustic soda (the Bayer process) to dissolve the aluminium and leave the red mud behind; alumina precipitates and is calcined. Hall–Héroult cells then electrolyse it dissolved in molten cryolite at about 960 °C — roughly 14 MWh per tonne, which is why smelters chase cheap electricity.

mines

Sangarédi (CBG)Weipa Huntly

machines

Otto Four-Stroke Engine Wankel Rotary Engine Diesel Engine Gas Turbine (Jet Engine)Induction Motor Transformer Lithium-Ion Cell Photovoltaic Cell Vapour-Compression Refrigerator Solid-Propellant Rocket Motor

skills

TIG Welding Sand Casting Sharpening an Edge Mixing and Placing Concrete

equations

Drude Conductivity BCS Energy Gap Josephson Effect Young's Modulus Specific Impulse Qubit State

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From the All Periodical Elements database in Notion, last edited 2026-08-25. This page is the row, rendered by the build; nothing on it is written by hand.