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Aluminum

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Geochemistry

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

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FormalPara Element Data

Atomic Symbol: Al

Atomic Number: 13

Atomic Weight: 26.98 g/mol

Isotopes and Abundances: 27Al 100 %, 26Al (short-lived)

1 Atm Melting Point: 660.3 °C

1 Atm Boiling Point: 2519 °C

Common Valences: 3+

Ionic Radii: 53 pm (4-fold); 67.5 pm (6-fold)

Pauling Electronegativity: 1.61

First Ionization Energy: 577.5 kJ/mol

Chondritic (CI) Abundance: 0.84 %

Silicate Earth Abundance: ~2.3 %

Crustal Abundance: 8.45 %

Seawater Abundance: 1–2 × 10−9 kg/L

Core Abundance: ~0

McDonough and Sun (1995)

Rudnick and Gao (2014)

Properties

A metallic element that is silver-white in color, weighs less, does not readily oxidize, i.e., resistant to corrosion, ductile, malleable, and is a good electrical conductor. The metal occurs as oxides, hydroxides, and aluminosilicate minerals in the Earth’s crust.

History and Use

In 1825, Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted obtained aluminum by heating aluminum chloride with potassium. However the aluminum was impure. In 1827, German chemist...

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Florida State University, 3064520, Tallahassee, FL, 32306, USA

    Mainak Mookherjee

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  1. Mainak Mookherjee
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Correspondence to Mainak Mookherjee .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth, Cornell University Department of Earth, Ithaca, New York, USA

    William M. White

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Mookherjee, M. (2016). Aluminum. In: White, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39193-9_214-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39193-9_214-1

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