Is aluminum a metal or non-metal?

Aluminum

- an element of the main subgroup of the third group of the third period of the periodic system of chemical elements of D.I. Mendeleev, atomic number 13. Denoted by the symbol Al (Aluminium). Belongs to the group of light metals. The most common metal and the third most abundant (after oxygen and silicon) chemical element in the earth's crust. The simple substance aluminum (CAS number: 7429-90-5) is a lightweight, paramagnetic silver-white metal that can be easily formed, cast, and machined. Aluminum has high thermal and electrical conductivity and resistance to corrosion due to the rapid formation of strong oxide films that protect the surface from further interaction. According to some biological studies, the intake of aluminum in the human body was considered a factor in the development of Alzheimer's disease, but these studies were later criticized and the conclusion about the connection between one and the other was refuted.

Receipt

The modern production method was developed independently by the American Charles Hall and the Frenchman Paul Héroult. It consists of dissolving aluminum oxide Al2O3 in a melt of cryolite Na3AlF6, followed by electrolysis using graphite electrodes. This production method requires a lot of electricity, and therefore became popular only in the 20th century.

To produce 1 ton of crude aluminum, 1.920 tons of alumina, 0.065 tons of cryolite, 0.035 tons of aluminum fluoride, 0.600 tons of anode mass and 17 thousand kWh of DC electricity are required.

Physical properties

The metal is silver-white in color, light, density - 2.7 g/cm³, melting point for technical aluminum - 658 °C, for high-purity aluminum - 660 °C, specific heat of fusion - 390 kJ/kg, boiling point - 2500 ° C, specific heat of evaporation - 10.53 MJ/kg, temporary resistance of cast aluminum - 10-12 kg/mm², deformable - 18-25 kg/mm², alloys - 38-42 kg/mm².

Brinell hardness is 24-32 kgf/mm², high ductility: technical - 35%, pure - 50%, rolled into thin sheets and even foil.

Aluminum has high electrical and thermal conductivity, 65% of the electrical conductivity of copper, and has high light reflectivity.

Aluminum forms alloys with almost all metals.

Properties and characteristics

Aluminum is a metal with a silvery-white surface. As already noted, its density is 2.7 kg/m3. The temperature is 660°C.

Its electrical conductivity is equal to 65% of copper and its alloys. Aluminum and most of its alloys are resistant to corrosion. This is due to the fact that an oxide film forms on its surface, which protects the base material from exposure to atmospheric air.

In the untreated state, its strength is 60 MPa, but after adding certain additives it increases to 700 MPa. The hardness in this state reaches 250 HB.

Aluminum can be easily processed under pressure. To remove work hardening and restore ductility after processing, aluminum parts are annealed, and the temperature should be within 350°C.

Being in nature

Natural aluminum consists almost entirely of a single stable isotope, 27Al, with traces of 26Al, a radioactive isotope with a half-life of 720 thousand years, formed in the atmosphere when bombarded by argon

cosmic ray protons.

In terms of prevalence in nature, it ranks 1st among metals and 3rd among elements, second only to oxygen and silicon. The percentage of aluminum content in the earth's crust, according to various researchers, ranges from 7.45 to 8.14% of the mass of the earth's crust.

In nature, aluminum is found only in compounds (minerals). Some of them:

• Bauxite - Al2O3 • H2O (with admixtures of SiO2, Fe2O3, CaCO3)
• Nephelines - KNa3[AlSiO4]4
• Alunites - KAl(SO4)2 • 2Al(OH)3
• Alumina (mixtures of kaolins with sand SiO2, limestone CaCO3, magnesite MgCO3)
• Corundum - Al2O3
• Feldspar (orthoclase) – K2O×Al2O3×6SiO2
• Kaolinite – Al2O3×2SiO2 × 2H2O
• Alunite - (Na,K)2SO4×Al2(SO4)3×4Al(OH)3
• Beryl - 3BeO • Al2O3 • 6SiO2

Natural waters contain aluminum in the form of low-toxic chemical compounds, for example, aluminum fluoride. The type of cation or anion depends, first of all, on the acidity of the aqueous medium. Aluminum concentrations in surface water bodies in Russia range from 0.001 to 10 mg/l.

Composition and structure of aluminum

Aluminum is the most common metal in the earth's crust. It is classified as a light metal. It has low density and mass. In addition, it has a fairly low melting point. At the same time, it has high ductility and shows good thermal and electrical conductivity characteristics.

Aluminum crystal lattice

Aluminum structure

The tensile strength of pure aluminum is only 90 MPa. But, if you add some substances to the melt, for example, copper and a number of others, then the tensile strength increases sharply to 700 MPa. The same result can be achieved using heat treatment.

Aluminum, which has extremely high purity - 99.99%, is produced for use in laboratory purposes. For industrial applications, commercially pure aluminum is used. When producing aluminum alloys, additives such as iron and silicon are used. They do not dissolve in the aluminum melt, and the additive reduces the ductility of the base material, but at the same time increases its strength.

Appearance of a simple substance

The structure of this metal consists of simple cells consisting of four atoms. This structure is called face-centric.

Calculations show that the density of pure metal is 2.7 kg per cubic meter.

Chemical properties

Aluminum hydroxide
Under normal conditions, aluminum is covered with a thin and durable oxide film and therefore does not react with classical oxidizing agents: with H2O (t°); O2, HNO3 (without heating). Thanks to this, aluminum is practically not subject to corrosion and is therefore widely in demand in modern industry. However, when the oxide film is destroyed (for example, upon contact with solutions of ammonium salts NH4+, hot alkalis or as a result of amalgamation), aluminum acts as an active reducing metal.

Reacts easily with simple substances:

• with oxygen: 4Al + 3O2 = 2Al2O3
• with halogens: 2Al + 3Br2 = 2AlBr3
• reacts with other non-metals when heated: with sulfur, forming aluminum sulfide: 2Al + 3S = Al2S3
• with nitrogen, forming aluminum nitride: 2Al + N2 = 2AlN
• with carbon, forming aluminum carbide: 4Al + 3C = Al4C3

Aluminum sulfide and carbide are completely hydrolyzed:

Al2S3 + 6H2O = 2Al(OH)3 + 3H2S Al4C3 + 12H2O = 4Al(OH)3+ 3CH4

With complex substances:

• with water (after removing the protective oxide film, for example, by amalgamation or hot alkali solutions): 2Al + 6H2O = 2Al(OH)3 + 3H2
• with alkalis (with the formation of tetrahydroxoaluminates and other aluminates): 2Al + 2NaOH + 6H2O = 2Na[Al(OH)4] + 3H2 2(NaOH•H2O) + 2Al = 2NaAlO2 + 3H2

• Easily dissolves in hydrochloric and dilute sulfuric acids: 2Al + 6HCl = 2AlCl3 + 3H2 2Al + 3H2SO4(dil) = Al2(SO4)3 + 3H2
• When heated, it dissolves in acids - oxidizing agents that form soluble aluminum salts: 2Al + 6H2SO4(conc) = Al2(SO4)3 + 3SO2 + 6H2O Al + 6HNO3(conc) = Al(NO3)3 + 3NO2 + 3H2O
• reduces metals from their oxides (aluminothermy): 8Al + 3Fe3O4 = 4Al2O3 + 9Fe 2Al + Cr2O3 = Al2O3 + 2Cr

Chemical properties of aluminum

Aluminothermy

As we have already said, aluminum is an active metal. So active that it can be used as a reducing agent for iron, manganese, chromium and other similar metals, while turning into a very stable oxide. This method of producing other metals from their oxides by reaction with aluminum powder is called aluminothermy , or thermite :

\(3Fe_3O_4 + 8Al = 4Al_2O_3 + 9Fe\) \(3MnO_2 + 4Al = 3Mn + 2Al_2O_3\) \(Cr_2O_3 + 2Al = 2Cr + Al_2O_3\) Thermite

As you have already noticed, aluminum in its oxide is in the oxidation state +3 . And yes, indeed, this is the most stable oxidation state for aluminum . However, there is another non-zero oxidation state for it! And that's +1 , which we'll talk about a little later.

To begin with, let us note the reactions of aluminum with many simple substances (when heated), the elements of which surround aluminum in the periodic table:

\(4Al + 3C = Al_4C_3 \quad \text{t = }1500^oC\) \(2Al + N_2 = 2AlN \quad t > 800^oC\) \(2Al + 3S = Al_2S_3 \quad t > 700^oC \)

Many of the compounds formed in such reactions are easily hydrolyzed:

\(Al_2S_3 + 6H_2O = 3H_2S\uparrow + 2Al(OH)_3\downarrow, \text{fast}\) \(AlN + 4HCl = AlCl_3 + NH_4Cl, \text{slow}\)

Relation to acids

Aluminum does not react with concentrated nitric and sulfuric acids - that is, it is passivated .

However, it reacts with dilute non-oxidizing acids (that is, dilute sulfuric, hydrochloric) at a moderate speed due to the rather inert oxide film on the surface, which is slowly “eaten up” by the acid:

\(2Al + 6HCl = 2AlCl_3 + 3H_2\uparrow\)

Aluminum hydroxide reacts very easily with acids, forming aluminum salts:

\(Al(OH)_3 + 3HCl = AlCl_3 + 3H_2O\)

Relation to alkalis. Amphotericity

Aluminum is an amphoteric metal . This means that it and its compounds exhibit both acidic and basic properties.

For example, it reacts with an alkali solution:

\(2Al + 2NaOH + 6H_2O = 2Na[Al(OH)_4] + 3H_2\uparrow\)

It has been observed experimentally that this reaction occurs at a faster rate than aluminum with an acid, which means we can conclude that the acidic properties of aluminum are more pronounced than the basic ones.

In addition to reacting with acid, aluminum hydroxide also dissolves easily in alkali solution!

\(Al(OH)_3 + NaOH = Na[Al(OH)_4]\)

As a result of these reactions, a complex compound is formed - sodium tetrahydroxoaluminate , which has a variable composition that strongly depends on pH. In aqueous solutions at pH 13-14 (strongly alkaline media), tetrahydroxoaluminate ions exist, and when the pH decreases (acidification of the environment), polymerization through oxygen bridges. For example, the existence and structure of ions of the following compositions have been characterized:

\([Al_{13}O_4(OH)_{24}(H_2O)_{12}]^{7+},\quad [Al_{13}(OH)_{35}]^{4+}\ )

And together with singly charged cations (alkali metal and ammonium cations) it forms stable crystallizing compounds alum (the name comes from the word sour, since aluminum compounds hydrolyze and salt solutions have an acidic reaction):

\((NH_4)_2SO_4 + Al_2(SO_4)_3 + 24H_2O = 2NH_4Al(SO_4)_2 * 12H_2O\)

Their structure contains tetrahedral hexaqua ions [Al(H2O)6]3+.

Fine crystals of potassium alum

When fused with alkalis, aluminum forms a salt of meta- or orthoaluminum acid. In this case, aluminates of a more complex composition can also form:

\(Al(OH)_3 + NaOH = NaAlO_2 + 2H_2O\) \(NaAlO_2 + Na_2O = Na_3AlO_3\)

Production

aluminum production
One beautiful, but probably implausible legend from “Historia naturalis“

says that one day a jeweler came to the Roman emperor Tiberius (42 BC - 37 AD) with a metal, unbreakable dinner plate, allegedly made from alumina - Al2O3. The plate was very light and shone like silver. By all indications, it should be aluminum. At the same time, the jeweler claimed that only he and the gods knew how to obtain this metal from clay. Tiberius, fearing that metal from easily accessible clay could devalue gold and silver, ordered, just in case, to cut off the man’s head. Obviously, this legend is very doubtful, since native aluminum does not occur in nature due to its high activity, and during the Roman Empire there could not have been technical means that would have made it possible to extract aluminum from alumina.

Only almost 2000 years later - in 1825, the Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted obtained several milligrams of metallic aluminum, and in 1827 Friedrich Wöhler was able to isolate grains of aluminum, which, however, were immediately covered in air with a thin film of aluminum oxide.

Until the end of the 19th century, aluminum was not produced on an industrial scale.

Only in 1854, Henri Saint-Clair Deville invented the first method of industrial production of aluminum, based on the displacement of aluminum by metallic sodium from double sodium chloride and aluminum NaCl AlCl3. In 1855, the first metal ingot weighing 6-8 kg was obtained. Over 36 years of use, from 1855 to 1890, 200 tons of aluminum metal were produced using the Saint-Clair Deville method. In 1856, he also obtained aluminum by electrolysis of a molten sodium-aluminum chloride.

In 1885, based on the technology proposed by Russian scientist Nikolai Beketov, an aluminum production plant was built in the German city of Gmelingem. Beketov’s technology was not much different from Deville’s method, but it was simpler and involved the interaction between cryolite (Na3AlF6) and magnesium. In five years, this plant produced about 58 tons of aluminum - more than a quarter of all world production of the metal by chemical means in the period from 1854 to 1890.

The method, invented almost simultaneously by Charles Hall in France and Paul Héroux in the USA in 1886 and based on the production of aluminum by electrolysis of alumina dissolved in molten cryolite, laid the foundation for the modern method of aluminum production. Since then, due to improvements in electrical engineering, aluminum production has improved. A notable contribution to the development of alumina production was made by Russian scientists K. I. Bayer, D. A. Penyakov, A. N. Kuznetsov, E. I. Zhukovsky, A. A. Yakovkin and others.

The first aluminum smelter in Russia was built in 1932 in Volkhov. The metallurgical industry of the USSR in 1939 produced 47.7 thousand tons of aluminum, another 2.2 thousand tons were imported.

World War II greatly stimulated aluminum production. Thus, in 1939, its global production, excluding the USSR, was 620 thousand tons, but by 1943 it had grown to 1.9 million tons.

By 1956, the world produced 3.4 million tons of primary aluminum, in 1965 - 5.4 million tons, in 1980 - 16.1 million tons, in 1990 - 18 million tons.

In 2007, the world produced 38 million tons of primary aluminum, and in 2008 - 39.7 million tons. The leaders in production were: China (produced 12.60 million tons in 2007, and 13.50 million tons in 2008), Russia (3.96/4.20), Canada (3.09/3.10), USA (2.55/2.64), Australia (1.96/1.96), Brazil (1.66/ 1.66), India (1.22/1.30), Norway (1.30/1.10), UAE (0.89/0.92), Bahrain (0.87/0.87), South Africa (0.90/0.85), Iceland (0.40/0.79), Germany (0.55/0.59), Venezuela (0.61/0.55), Mozambique (0.56/055 ), Tajikistan (0.42/0.42).

In Russia, the de facto monopolist in aluminum production is Russian Aluminum OJSC, which accounts for about 13% of the world aluminum market and 16% of alumina.

The world's reserves of bauxite are practically limitless, that is, they are incommensurate with the dynamics of demand. Existing facilities can produce up to 44.3 million tons of primary aluminum per year. It should also be taken into account that in the future some of the applications of aluminum may be reoriented to the use of, for example, composite materials.

Application

A piece of aluminum and an American coin.
Widely used as a construction material. The main advantages of aluminum in this quality are lightness, malleability for stamping, corrosion resistance (in air, aluminum is instantly covered with a durable Al2O3 film, which prevents its further oxidation), high thermal conductivity, and non-toxicity of its compounds. In particular, these properties have made aluminum extremely popular in the production of cookware, aluminum foil in the food industry and for packaging.

The main disadvantage of aluminum as a structural material is its low strength, so it is usually alloyed with a small amount of copper and magnesium - duralumin alloy.

The electrical conductivity of aluminum is only 1.7 times less than that of copper, while aluminum is approximately 2 times cheaper. Therefore, it is widely used in electrical engineering for the manufacture of wires, their shielding, and even in microelectronics for the manufacture of conductors in chips. The lower electrical conductivity of aluminum (37 1/ohm) compared to copper (63 1/ohm) is compensated by increasing the cross-section of aluminum conductors. The disadvantage of aluminum as an electrical material is its strong oxide film, which makes soldering difficult.

• Due to its complex of properties, it is widely used in heating equipment.
• Aluminum and its alloys retain strength at ultra-low temperatures. Due to this, it is widely used in cryogenic technology.
• High reflectivity, combined with low cost and ease of deposition, makes aluminum an ideal material for making mirrors.
• In the production of building materials as a gas-forming agent.
• Aluminizing imparts corrosion and scale resistance to steel and other alloys, such as piston internal combustion engine valves, turbine blades, oil platforms, heat exchange equipment, and also replaces galvanizing.
• Aluminum sulfide is used to produce hydrogen sulfide.
• Research is underway to develop foamed aluminum as an especially strong and lightweight material.

As a reducing agent

• As a component of thermite, mixtures for aluminothermy
• Aluminum is used to recover rare metals from their oxides or halides.

Aluminum alloys

The structural material usually used is not pure aluminum, but various alloys based on it.

Rolled aluminum

— Aluminum-magnesium alloys have high corrosion resistance and are well welded; They are used, for example, to make the hulls of high-speed ships.

— Aluminum-manganese alloys are in many ways similar to aluminum-magnesium alloys.

— Aluminum-copper alloys (in particular, duralumin) can be subjected to heat treatment, which greatly increases their strength. Unfortunately, heat-treated materials cannot be welded, so aircraft parts are still connected with rivets. An alloy with a higher copper content is very similar in color to gold, and is sometimes used to imitate the latter.

— Aluminum-silicon alloys (silumins) are best suited for casting. Cases of various mechanisms are often cast from them.

— Complex alloys based on aluminum: avial.

— Aluminum goes into a superconducting state at a temperature of 1.2 Kelvin.

Aluminum as an additive to other alloys

Aluminum is an important component of many alloys. For example, in aluminum bronzes the main components are copper and aluminum. In magnesium alloys, aluminum is most often used as an additive. For the manufacture of spirals in electric heating devices, fechral (Fe, Cr, Al) is used (along with other alloys).

Jewelry

When aluminum was very expensive, a variety of jewelry was made from it. The fashion for them immediately passed when new technologies for its production appeared, which reduced the cost many times over. Nowadays, aluminum is sometimes used in the production of costume jewelry.

Glass making

Fluoride, phosphate and aluminum oxide are used in glass making.

Food industry

Aluminum is registered as a food additive E173.

Aluminum and its compounds in rocket technology

Aluminum and its compounds are used as a highly efficient propellant in two-propellant rocket propellants and as a combustible component in solid rocket propellants. The following aluminum compounds are of greatest practical interest as rocket fuel:

— Aluminum: fuel in rocket fuels. Used in the form of powder and suspensions in hydrocarbons, etc. - Aluminum hydride - Aluminum boranate - Trimethylaluminum - Triethylaluminum - Tripropylaluminum

Theoretical characteristics of fuels formed by aluminum hydride with various oxidizers.

Is aluminum a metal or non-metal?

Is aluminum a metal or non-metal?

One of the most common metals in construction and technology is aluminum. It is used not only in its pure form, but also as part of various alloys. It is also quite widespread in the earth's crust, occupying an honorable third place, behind only silicon and oxygen. If we separately weigh all the components that make up the earth's crust, then aluminum will account for 8% of the total mass.

Aluminum can be found in the periodic table of elements in the main subgroup of group III, or according to the new classification - in group 13. Anyone who is familiar with the basics of constructing a table will unmistakably determine that this element is metal. It is impossible to find aluminum in its pure form; it is found in the form of compounds with other elements - feldspar, alum, bauxite, mica, corundum. Even rubies and sapphires contain aluminum atoms.

Aluminum is produced on an industrial scale from bauxite; first, aluminum oxide is obtained by heating the raw material strongly, then the melt is subjected to hydrolysis. Metal is deposited at the cathode, and oxygen is released in the form of gas at the anode. It is not possible to obtain pure aluminum by filtration or any other method.

How does an aluminum atom work?

In the periodic table, aluminum is assigned number 13. The element's nucleus contains 13 neutrons and 14 protons. The electronic configuration of the element is 1s22s22p63s23p1, and the electronic distribution configuration is +13Al)2)8)3. Three electrons from the last orbit are easily separated, which determines the high +3 oxidation level.

In its natural state, pure aluminum cannot exist; the surface of the ingot or product is immediately covered with a film of oxides, forming a hermetic shell. This explains why aluminum does not react with water and does not corrode.

Physical and chemical properties of aluminum

If we consider the physical properties of the metal, then aluminum has a small mass, is plastic and conducts electricity well. Under normal conditions, the metal is instantly covered with a protective film and does not react with either water or acids. This determines the popularity of aluminum containers for transporting these chemicals. The crystalline structure determines the high ductility of the metal.

The oxide film is removed with ammonium salts, hot alkalis and mercury alloys, after which the metal reacts with many substances, in particular with halogens at room temperature, and when heated - with phosphorus, sulfur, nitrogen, and carbon. The metal does not react with hydrogen. The oxidation state of aluminum in compounds is always +3, in the elemental state - 0.

Application of aluminum

The popularity of the metal is largely determined by another property: it does not magnetize. This allows it to be used for the manufacture of housings for various machines, devices, and wires. Excellent electrical conductivity makes aluminum an ideal material for cable production.

Aluminum melts at a temperature of 658 0C; in the melt it easily reacts with other elements, changing its structure and properties. Aluminum-based alloys are just as light in weight, but are significantly harder, easier to machine, and more durable than pure metal.

One of the forms of using the element in technology and everyday life is aluminum powder. This is pure aluminum crushed to a fine state, mixed with 3 - 3.5% fatty substances. The metal particles have a scaly shape; when powder is used as paint, they lie flat on the surface, create durable anti-corrosion protection and give the product a decorative appearance.

In addition to pure aluminum, the powder may contain iron, silicon, copper in an amount of 0.01 - 0.5%. These are simply impurities that do not react with aluminum and do not affect the properties of the powder. Fine metal is also used in the production of explosives, mixtures for fireworks, and gas-forming components of lightweight concrete.

Aluminates

Salts of orthoaluminum acid H3 AlO3 and metalaluminum acid HAlO2 are often found in nature. These are various substances in which aluminum has completely lost its metallic properties and acquired new ones. Thus, sodium aluminate NaAlO2 is used in industry as an etching reagent, other compounds are used as additives for concrete and mortars, accelerating hardening and increasing plasticity. The metallic properties of aluminum are not manifested in any way in these compounds. The oxidation state of aluminum in meta-aluminum acid and salts is the same as in +3 oxides.

In nature, aluminates are found in the form of minerals; without knowing their chemical formulas, it is difficult to say that they contain one of the most common metals on Earth. These minerals are spinel, ganite, herzenite, and chrysoberyl. Metaluminic acid itself is unstable, but the salts are completely independent solid substances with well-defined properties.

Toxicity

It has a slight toxic effect, but many water-soluble inorganic aluminum compounds remain in a dissolved state for a long time and can have a harmful effect on humans and warm-blooded animals through drinking water. The most toxic are chlorides, nitrates, acetates, sulfates, etc. For humans, the following doses of aluminum compounds (mg/kg body weight) have a toxic effect when ingested: aluminum acetate - 0.2-0.4; aluminum hydroxide - 3.7-7.3; aluminum alum - 2.9. Primarily affects the nervous system (accumulates in nervous tissue, leading to severe disorders of the central nervous system). However, the neurotoxicity of aluminum has been studied since the mid-1960s, since the accumulation of the metal in the human body is prevented by its elimination mechanism. Under normal conditions, up to 15 mg of the element per day can be excreted in the urine. Accordingly, the greatest negative effect is observed in people with impaired renal excretory function.

The standard for aluminum content in drinking water is 0.2 mg/l. In this case, this MPC can be increased to 0.5 mg/l by the chief state sanitary doctor for the relevant territory for a specific water supply system.

Additional Information

— Aluminum hydroxide — Encyclopedia of aluminum — Aluminum compounds — International Aluminum Institute

Aluminum, Aluminum, Al (13) Binders containing aluminum have been known since ancient times. However, alum (Latin Alumen or Alumin, German Alaun), which is mentioned, in particular, by Pliny, was understood in ancient times and in the Middle Ages as various substances. In Ruland's Alchemical Dictionary, the word Alumen, with the addition of various definitions, is given in 34 meanings. In particular, it meant antimony, Alumen alafuri - alkaline salt, Alumen Alcori - nitrum or alkali alum, Alumen creptum - tartar (tartar) of good wine, Alumen fascioli - alkali, Alumen odig - ammonia, Alumen scoriole - gypsum, etc. Lemery, the author of the famous “Dictionary of Simple Pharmaceutical Products” (1716), also provides a large list of varieties of alum. Until the 18th century aluminum compounds (alum and oxide) could not be distinguished from other compounds similar in appearance. Lemery describes the alum as follows: “In 1754. Marggraf isolated from an alum solution (by the action of alkali) a precipitate of aluminum oxide, which he called “alum earth” (Alaunerde), and established its difference from other earths. Soon alum earth received the name alumina (Alumina or Alumine). In 1782, Lavoisier expressed the idea that aluminum was an oxide of an unknown element. In his Table of Simple Bodies, Lavoisier placed Alumine among the “simple bodies, salt-forming, earthy.” Here are synonyms for the name alumina: argile, alum. earth, foundation of alum. The word argilla, or argilla, as Lemery points out in his dictionary, comes from the Greek. pottery clay. Dalton in his “New System of Chemical Philosophy” gives a special sign for aluminum and gives a complex structural (!) formula for alum. After the discovery of alkali metals using galvanic electricity, Davy and Berzelius unsuccessfully tried to isolate metallic aluminum from alumina in the same way. Only in 1825 was the problem solved by the Danish physicist Oersted using a chemical method. He passed chlorine through a hot mixture of alumina and coal, and the resulting anhydrous aluminum chloride was heated with potassium amalgam. After evaporation of mercury, writes Oersted, a metal similar in appearance to tin was obtained. Finally, in 1827, Wöhler isolated aluminum metal in a more efficient way - by heating anhydrous aluminum chloride with potassium metal. Around 1807, Davy, who was trying to carry out the electrolysis of alumina, gave the name to the metal supposed to contain it aluminum (Alumium) or aluminum (Aluminum). The latter name has since become common in the USA, while in England and other countries the name Aluminum, later proposed by the same Davy, has been adopted. It is quite clear that all these names come from the Latin word alum (Alumen), about the origin of which there are different opinions, based on the evidence of various authors, dating back to antiquity.

A. M. Vasiliev, noting the unclear origin of this word, cites the opinion of a certain Isidore (obviously Isidore of Seville, a bishop who lived in 560 - 636, an encyclopedist who was engaged, in particular, in etymological research): “Alumen is called a lumen, so how it gives lumen (light, brightness) to paints when added during dyeing." However, this explanation, although very old, does not prove that the word alumen has precisely such origins. Here, only an accidental tautology is quite likely. Lemery (1716) in turn points out that the word alumen is related to the Greek (halmi), meaning salinity, brine, brine, etc. Russian names for aluminum in the first decades of the 19th century. quite varied. Each of the authors of books on chemistry of this period obviously sought to propose its own title. Thus, Zakharov calls aluminum alumina (1810), Giese - alumium (1813), Strakhov - alum (1825), Iovsky - clay, Shcheglov - alumina (1830). In Dvigubsky's Store (1822 - 1830), alumina is called alumina, alumina, alumina (for example, phosphoric acid alumina), and the metal is called aluminum and aluminum (1824). Hess in the first edition of “Foundations of Pure Chemistry” (1831) uses the name alumina (Aluminium), and in the fifth edition (1840) - clay. However, he forms names for salts based on the term alumina, for example, alumina sulfate. Mendeleev in the first edition of “Fundamentals of Chemistry” (1871) uses the names aluminum and clay. In subsequent editions the word gliny no longer appears.