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Aluminium

Introduction

Aluminium is the 13th element of the periodic table and has the atomic symbol of Al. It was first discovered in 1825 in Denmark by Christian Oersted (Winter, 2016). Aluminium is the most abundant metal in the earth's crust; however it is never found free in nature (Pappas, 2014). All aluminium that is used on earth comes from compounds as aluminium combines with other elements. Aluminium is very useful and can be seen from our everyday lives to large industrial uses. For example aluminium can be used in the form of foil to keep your sandwich fresh to building airplanes and jet engines. It is widely used due to the fact that it is plentiful, relatively inexpensive, strong yet lightweight, can combine with other materials easily, is resistant to heat and corrosion and a good conductor of electricity (Woodford, 2016).