Aluminum metal is the commonest in the earth's crust but found only in mix, mainly as an ore called bauxite. It also happens in gemstones such as topaz, garnet, ruby and sapphire. It is located mixed in over 270 different minerals. The metal is exceedingly conductive and has great thermal properties and these properties are utilised for the various needs of the industries. Aluminium is silvery-white in colour.
The metal is used in various industries like building and construction, power transmission lines, photoengraving plates, cooking utensils and other consumer goods, tubes for ointments and pastes. Global production of aluminum in the year 2005 was 31.9 million tonnes. This comes after iron consumption that was 837.5 million tonnes in the same year.
Pure aluminium has a low tensile strength, but if they're processed with proper heat and mechanics, they can be the strongest metal. Alloys formed with copper, zinc, magnesium, manganese and silicon are employed in various industries.
Aluminum metal is extensively utilized in transportation industry. The use in aircrafts and cars are well known. A large range of household items ranging from cooking utensils to baseball bats and watches are made of aluminum and its alloys. The consumer electronics are enclosed in the shells made from aluminum as they would not add to the weight of the kit. Aluminum is employed for making drinking cans, foil wrappings, bottle tops and foil boxes that are at length used in food and drink industry. This is better as the metal is non toxic and aromaless.
Milled aluminum is employed in paint and also forms a necessary ingredient of the pyrotechnics like solid rocket fuels. The mixture of properties light weight and great strength makes it useful in construction industry like window, doors, street lighting poles and sailing ship masts.
The highly conductive property of the metal makes it ideal to be utilized in electric transmission lines for power distribution, heat sinks for electronic appliances such as transistors and CPU. About 1 kilogram of aluminum conducts almost twice as much electricity as one kilogram of copper. Nonetheless use of aluminium in household wiring has been discovered to be dangerous. Due to its ductile nature and corrosion resistance, the metal is utilized for electrical applications like TV aerials, satellite dishes and is the standard base for bulbs.
Aluminum is a reusable material and many products can be made from the old form. Even the silver helium balloons that are frequently seen in birthday parties are covered with a thin, evaporated coating of aluminum metal over the hard plastic.
It is however , urgent to realise the indisputable fact that aluminium is a very reactive metal and in combination with some food acids may produce more damage than good. Folk susceptible to aluminium are prone to ulcers in the mouth, cramps of the foodpipe, gut ulcers, slow progressive vision impairment, skin rash and itching, glandular dysfunctions or cancer.
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