Aluminium

Aluminium (in American English, aluminum; see below) is chemical element number 13 in the periodic table, with symbol Al. It is a soft lightweight metal with a dull silver-gray appearance, caused by a thin layer of oxidation that forms quickly when it is exposed to air and that prevents further corrosion. Although it is an abundant element in the Earth's crust, second only to silicon, it is very rare in its free form, and was once considered a precious metal more valuable than gold. In 1825 the Danish physicist and chemist Hans Christian Orsted produced aluminium for the first time. The invention of the [Hall-Héroult process]? in 1886 made extracting aluminium from minerals inexpensive, and so it is now in common use throughout the world.

Aluminium is one of the few abundant elements that appears to have no function at all in living cells. Though it is not considered as toxic as heavy metals, there is evidence of some toxicity if consumed in excessive amounts. The use of aluminium cookware, popular because of its corrosion resistance and good heat conduction, has not been shown to lead to aluminium toxicity. Excessive consumption of antacids containing aluminium compounds and excessive use of aluminium-containing antiperspirant?s are more likely causes of toxicity.

The official IUPAC spelling of the element is aluminium; however, Americans and Canadians generally spell and pronounce it aluminum. The element was originally called aluminum, but this was soon after changed to aluminium, to fit better with the other elements (potassium, germanium, etc.) The aluminium spelling then became the most common in both the Britain and the United States; however then the United States changed over time to aluminum for popular purposes. The official name used in the United States for chemistry remained however aluminium until 1926 when the American Chemistry Society changed the spelling to aluminum. In 1990 IUPAC however adopted aluminium as the international standard name for the element. Aluminium is also the name used in French, Dutch, German and Swedish; while Italian uses alluminio, Portugese uses alumínio and Spanish uses aluminio. (The use of these words in these other languages is one of the reasons IUPAC chose aluminium over aluminum.) In 1993, IUPAC recognized aluminum as an acceptable variant, but still prefers the use of aluminium.

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