Question: What is the most abundant metal on Earth?
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Aluminum.
The most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust is aluminum. Constituting approximately 8.1% of the Earth’s crust by weight, aluminum is the third most abundant element overall, surpassed only by oxygen and silicon. Despite its abundance, aluminum is never found free in nature due to its high reactivity, but instead is found combined in over 270 different minerals.
The primary source of aluminum is bauxite ore, named after the town of Les Baux in southern France, where it was first discovered. Bauxite is a mixture of minerals such as gibbsite, boehmite, and diaspore, along with clay minerals, iron oxides, and hydroxides.
Aluminum was first isolated in the early 19th century, but it wasn’t until the late 19th century that an economical method for its extraction, the Hall-Héroult process, was developed. This method involves the electrolysis of molten alumina (aluminum oxide), and is still the primary method of aluminum production today.
Lightweight, durable, and resistant to corrosion, aluminum has a wide array of uses. It’s used extensively in the construction, transportation, and packaging industries, among others. In addition, aluminum is used in electrical transmission lines due to its combination of being both lightweight and a good conductor of electricity. It’s also commonly used in kitchen utensils, cans, foils, and aeroplane parts. Despite its widespread use, it’s one of the most recycled materials due to the efficiency of aluminum recycling.
