I'm reminded of the story of how America once flexed its financial power by building the Washington Monument...and capping it off with a 6lb aluminum capstone [

I'm reminded of the story of how America once flexed its financial power by building the Washington Monument...and capping it off with a 6lb aluminum capstone [0]. Aluminum was so coveted that Napoleon had his dinnerware made from it - and that was a bigger flex than eating off of gold. Of course, aluminum today is a dirt cheap metal that's found almost everywhere and in everything. All it took to bring the cost down drastically was figuring out a new refining process and flooding the market with new supply. But I'm sure someone once analyzed soil samples, discovered that nearly 8% of the earth is made of alumnium, and theoretically, all that alumnium was worth XX quadrillion dollars. 0: https://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/9511/Binczewski-9511.html https://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/9511/Binczewski-9511.h...