2 ms·
Aluminium has been out of reach for much of history.
by hoseja 5y ago
Aluminium has been out of reach for much of history.
- pfdietz 5y agoBut not because it needed too much energy.
- zabzonk 5y agoThen for what other reasons?
- pfdietz 5y agoWell, it needs electricity. For most of history, we didn't have electricity. And, we didn't have cheap electricity until electromagnetism was understood and electric power could be made from rotating machinery. After that, there needed to be found a chemistry that would allow aluminum to be made directly, rather than from sodium or potassium reducing aluminum compounds. The actual physical amount of energy needed to make aluminum would have been available since forever; it's the form of that energy that wasn't there.