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News tagged with aluminum

Researchers develop disposable paper-based touch pads

(Phys.org) -- Today, electronic touch pads are widely found on laptops, tablets, and other computing devices. Less common uses, but gaining in popularity, are book covers and food labels. These and other low-tech ...

Technology / Hi Tech & Innovation

created May 10, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (10) | comments 22 | with audio podcast report

Lightweight construction on the way to volume production

Carmakers and airplane manufacturers are very particular when it comes to the weight of their models: the lighter they are, the less fuel they consume - and the less carbon dioxide they blow into the air. ...

Technology / Engineering

created Apr 23, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 2

Building lightweight trains

The less trains weigh, the more economical they are to run. A new material capable of withstanding even extreme stresses has now been developed. It is suitable for a variety of applications, not least diesel ...

Technology / Engineering

created Mar 28, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Preventing contamination in recycling

Aluminum has long been the poster child of recycling. About half of all aluminum used in the United States is now recycled, and this recycling has clear and dramatic benefits: Pound for pound, it takes anywhere ...

Technology / Engineering

created Mar 06, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Less lively aluminum baseball bats change game

Baseball is considered relatively safe, but its reputation was established in the era of wooden bats. Aluminum bats, introduced in the 1970s, had an enormous “trampoline effect” and made the game ...

Other Sciences / Other

created Feb 20, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Haptic cube lets you feel tomorrow's temps

(PhysOrg.com) -- Will it be an invention joining a storage room of other inventions? Or kicked further up to gadget boutiques for the very rich? Or a popular gadget for many worldwide? Whatever its destiny, ...

Technology / Hi Tech & Innovation

created Feb 07, 2012 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (7) | comments 6 | with audio podcast report

World's most powerful X-ray laser creates two-million-degree matter

Researchers working at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have used the world's most powerful X-ray laser to create and probe a two-million-degree piece of matter in a controlled way for the first time. ...

Physics / General Physics

created Jan 25, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (15) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Bidentate chelates with larger spacers: Chelating Lewis acids prepared by double hydroalumination of dialkynylsilanes

(PhysOrg.com) -- Molecular oligoacceptors (chelating Lewis acids) are interesting compounds that are potentially applicable in phase-transfer processes, catalysis, or molecular recognition. Compounds with ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Nov 08, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 3

Aluminum alloy overcomes obstacles on the path to making hydrogen a practical fuel source

Hydrogen offers great promise as a renewable energy source. It's staggeringly plentiful (the most abundant element in the Universe) and environmentally friendly (used in a fuel cell, it gives off only water). Unfortunately, ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Nov 01, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Space Image: Sputnik 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- On Oct. 4, 1957, Sputnik 1 successfully launched and entered Earth's orbit. Thus, began the space age.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 05, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

New technology uses solar UV to disinfect drinking water

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of Purdue University researchers has invented a prototype water-disinfection system that could help the world's 800 million people who lack safe drinking water.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Sep 29, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (11) | comments 10 | with audio podcast

Engineers 'cook' promising new heat-harvesting nanomaterials in microwave oven

(PhysOrg.com) -- Waste heat is a byproduct of nearly all electrical devices and industrial processes, from driving a car to flying an aircraft or operating a power plant. Engineering researchers at Rensselaer ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Sep 29, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Understanding the interplay of grains helps cars drop the pounds, be more fuel efficient

Sometimes solving the biggest challenges begins with understanding something very small -- like the tiny grains that form a piece of metal. For a team of scientists who wanted to improve automotive fuel efficiency, ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Sep 14, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

Parabolic mirrors concentrate sunlight to power lasers

Legend tells of Greek engineer and inventor Archimedes using parabolic mirrors to create "heat rays" to burn the ships attacking Syracuse. Though the underpinnings of that claim are speculative at best, a modern-day team ...

Physics / General Physics

created Sep 12, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (8) | comments 15 | with audio podcast

Neutron analysis reveals unique atom-scale behavior of 'cobalt blue'

Neutron scattering studies of "cobalt blue," a compound prized by artists for its lustrous blue hue, are revealing unique magnetic characteristics that could answer questions about mysterious properties in ...

Physics / General Physics

created Sep 06, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Aluminium

US i/əˈluːmɨnəm/ ə-loo-mi-nəm

Aluminium or aluminum (US English) is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances. Aluminium is the third most abundant element (after oxygen and silicon), and the most abundant metal, in the Earth's crust. It makes up about 8% by weight of the Earth's solid surface. Aluminium metal is too reactive chemically to occur natively. Instead, it is found combined in over 270 different minerals. The chief ore of aluminium is bauxite.

Aluminium is remarkable for the metal's low density and for its ability to resist corrosion due to the phenomenon of passivation. Structural components made from aluminium and its alloys are vital to the aerospace industry and are important in other areas of transportation and structural materials. The most useful compounds of aluminium, at least on a weight basis, are the oxides and sulfates.

Despite its prevalence in the environment, aluminium salts are not known to be used by any form of life. In keeping with its pervasiveness, it is well tolerated by plants and animals. Because of their prevalence, potential biological roles, beneficial and otherwise, aluminium compounds are of continuing interest.

For more information about Aluminium, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.