Talk:Aluminium

Why is scarce bauxite the preferred source for aluminium?

Aluminium is one of the most common elements in the earth's crust, but it is produced commercially from the scarce mineral bauxite. Presumably the reason is that it would be too expensive to produce from common starting materials like feldspar or clay. Why? CharlesHBennett (talk) 09:52, 10 July 2022 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not a discussion forum. Please focus discussion on the article content instead of the subject matter. –LaundryPizza03 (dc̄) 10:09, 10 July 2022 (UTC)

I think this is a reasonable enough topic to address, since it should be easy to answer and "why bauxite vs others" is a potential article content idea (aluminium production is a major section of this article already). In fact, our article already states "Although aluminium is a common and widespread element, not all aluminium minerals are economically viable sources of the metal. Almost all metallic aluminium is produced from the ore bauxite". DMacks (talk) 13:31, 10 July 2022 (UTC)

OK, first, I agree that the source could be useful for the article. As well as I know, aluminum silicates are very common in rocks, and where much of the Al is. But also that it isn't easy to get out. For electrolysis, you need ions, so it has to melt in the appropriate ionic form. Gah4 (talk) 20:48, 12 July 2022 (UTC)

According to Greenwood and Earnshaw (second edition, page 218), bauxite isn't rare at all: "reserves are immense, being of the order of 22 × 10⁹ tonnes in all". They mention that bauxite is "easy to mine by open-cast methods since it occurs typically in broad layers 3–10 m thick with very little topsoil or other overburden." The bauxite is extracted, purified and dehydrated to alumina, then electrolysed to aluminium metal. On page 219, they discuss the rarity of cryolite, which is used as a solvent in the electrochemical reduction of alumina. The supply of mined cryolite is insufficient to meet global demand so it is synthesised from hydrogen fluoride and sodium aluminate from the Bayer process. Cryolite is gradually depleted in the alumina reduction cell as it reacts with sodium oxide impurities in the alumina. It is therefore regenerated by adding aluminium fluoride. Is this worth summarising and citing in the article? Ben (talk) 22:32, 24 July 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 1 September 2022

Aluminum is spelled wrong on this entire page. 2600:8807:2280:490:71BA:B280:6CE:F055 (talk) 12:34, 1 September 2022 (UTC)

 Not done Aluminium with the second i is the official IUPAC spelling of the element name. –LaundryPizza03 (dc̄) 12:38, 1 September 2022 (UTC)

Greenhouse gas emissions

Question: How much greenhouse gas emissions are caused if I buy a thing that's 1 kg of aluminum? Help! I can figure it out from this site for example, https://international-aluminium.org/statistics/primary-aluminium-production/ And I just need somewhat better editing skills to add that into the article. - Also, if I find the total amounts and divide them, that would be OR, so I also need a source that divides emissions / production. Good idea? Thinkadoodle (talk) 14:54, 7 September 2022 (UTC)

Help me REVEAL....

Aluminium expert? ¡Please HELP! I am trying to prepare an article based on the REVEAL model of a large tank of aluminium pellets for Seasonal thermal energy storage) combined with cogeneration and district heating I ask you please to come and play in my sandbox = edit, mess it about and comment on its talk page – thanks and salutations Timpo (talk) 09:11, 10 September 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 10 October 2022

change: Appearance silvery gray metallic Change to: Appearance shiny gray metallic VeryBigBean (talk) 08:44, 10 October 2022 (UTC)

I'm not sure. Here at zinc the same edit was made. But IMO a "Silver (color)" is not exactly silver itself, and a good & acceptable way to describe the color/shine. DePiep (talk) 09:46, 10 October 2022 (UTC)

As well as I know it, aluminium is rare in its ability to look silvery as a fine powder. That is, you can make a paint out of it that looks silvery. Others look dark gray or black as a fine powder. More often, we see sheets or foils, but which one should apply here? Gah4 (talk) 16:36, 10 October 2022 (UTC)

 Note: Procedurally marking edit request as answered as there is (albeit now stale) a discussion amonst multiple editors regarding the proposed change. —Sirdog (talk) 09:40, 18 October 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 6 November 2022

change pronunciation of US/CA spelling from /əˈljuːmɪnəm/ ə-LEW-min-əm to /əˈluːmɪnəm/ ə-LOO-min-əm Ocelots33 (talk) 01:56, 6 November 2022 (UTC)

 Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. @Ocelots33: What's your source for it being such a fronted l sound? —C.Fred (talk) 02:03, 6 November 2022 (UTC)

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aluminum lists it without the /j/ sound, and the wikipedia audio sample says it without the /j/ sound. The OED lists the /j/ as optional in British English (which typically uses aluminium anyway) and does not list /j/ at all in American English https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/5898 Ocelots33 (talk) 20:02, 6 November 2022 (UTC)

 Done Part of the problem is my native dialect is a yod-dropping dialect, so in trying to distinguish lj and l, I wasn't hearing the yod sound in lute and was missing the difference. Looks like it's been done at the infobox. —C.Fred (talk) 21:20, 6 November 2022 (UTC)

British fanfic spelling

Why does the page list the British fanfic spelling as the primary spelling? The official recognized spelling is aluminum and should be recognized as such. 73.237.36.27 (talk) 17:34, 12 December 2022 (UTC)