Blogging the Periodic Table: Aluminum - it used to be more precious than gold

Slate has put together a series called Blogging the Periodic Table written by Sam Kean (of the awesome The Disappearing Spoon). They're up to thirty-three articles so far. The last was published in June, 2011, so I'm assuming that thirty-three is where the series is going to end.

Aluminum, as the article relates, is the most common element in the Earth's crust was absolutely useless to us for centuries because it is so reactive. As the article writes...

From a world production total of perhaps a few ounces per month in the decades before, by 1888, the largest U.S. aluminum company (the one that became Alcoa) could produce almost 50 pounds of aluminum each day. Within 20 years, it had to ship out 88,000 pounds per day to meet demand. As production soared, prices plummeted. In the mid-1800s, the first aluminum ingots on the market went for $550 per pound. Fifty years later, not even adjusting for inflation, it cost 25 cents for the same amount.

Check the article out. If you enjoy it, check out Kean's Disappearing Spoon, an absolute masterpiece of chemistry, material science, and story telling.