Where Does Aluminum Come From?
Aluminum is all around us, in almost every rock, plant, and animal. It is the third most plentiful element in the earth’s surface, after oxygen and silicon, and its compounds make up about 15 percent of the weight of the earth’s crust. But nowhere in nature is aluminum found in a pure form — it’s always mixed with other elements
Aluminum is one of the most abundant metallic elements on earth. It can be found in the ground, in water and in air, but not in its metallic form. Rather, aluminum is found in the environment as aluminum compounds, where the aluminum is bound with other chemical species such as silica (for example, aluminum silicate), oxides (for example, aluminum oxide), and hydroxides. Metallic aluminum is obtained industrially from aluminum compounds, the most common being bauxite, a mineral comprised mainly of various aluminum hydroxide compounds. The properties of aluminum and aluminum compounds have led to their use in a wide variety of products such as food additives, drugs (antacids), consumer products (antiperspirants, aluminum foil), and in the treatment of drinking water (coagulation).
