Aluminum more valuable than gold?

[@doctorpanigrahi9975]

Interesting fact :- Aluminium was so valuable that Nepoleon iii reserved a prized set of aluminium cutlery for special guests at banquets . Less favoured guests used gold knives and forks.

[@dianapennepacker6854]

Also why the Washington Monumemt is made from it. Something like ten inches tall. It was the largest piece of solid aluminum ever at that time! Someone told me it would be like making it out of platinum or palladium today. I don't personally think that is a good comparison due to the sheer rarity of either of those.. Kind of curious as to what the condition of it is. Aluminum isn't exactly known for being the sturdiest material.

[@mistersircode]

@@dianapennepacker6854 comparing it is fair because at that time it was similar in rarity. You don't really find aluminum in "native" form much.. It has to be refined. So yes it was exceptionally rare back then As for your question about it's sturdiness? Well, it does oxidize but it doesn't rust away excessively like iron. It'll last a long time in the weather. And it's not exposed to much physical trauma so it's softness wouldn't be an issue

[@iRossco]

Turn black from oxidation? Certainly grey. Would they have anodised it back then? Humans are weird animals 👽

[@senatorjosephmccarthy2720]

Except we're not animals. Except putin and xi would be, but the animals won't tolerate them in the same kingdom.

[@survivalistor6195]

Yes, they would have, of course, anodized the metal. ​@iRossco

[@VapidFart]

When it was hard to make in metal form they capped the tip of the washington monumemt with it. Kinda funny how shortly after that it was figured out how to produce it cheaply.

[@iamgriff]

I was going to type that factoid, you beat me to it 😂

[@chobochobus]

​@iamgriff is it a factoid?

[@NBC_7]

I came to say this myself. You got here first

[@johnmoore7360]

I came to say you beat me to , The beat me me to it, 🤔 But you Beat me to it 👈😆

[@NBC_7]

@@johnmoore7360 🤣🤣🤣

[@jacksonmwangi6546]

If only I had a time machine to smuggle all the aluminum I have 😢

[@mookinbabysealfurmittens]

OK, hear me out: we can go back in time to retrieve the time machine, and I'll dazzle them with my spare box of foil. I see no holes in this plan. Oh, darn! ...I gave away the foil. OK, so first we stop by the store. Or we can just go after, ig either way. Time is irrelevant! Nobody ever goes for my plans. Idgi.

[@ElizabethWarrenYeahYeah]

​@@mookinbabysealfurmittensnever mind the foil. Let's just pick up the gold. We could trade the foil for it I suppose. When do we leave? Yesterday? Ok

[@mookinbabysealfurmittens]

@@ElizabethWarrenYeahYeah I'm in! I'll meet you at the store! (I'm picking up the foil just in case.)

[@ElizabethWarrenYeahYeah]

@@mookinbabysealfurmittens I've got a wholesalers card so we can get lots at below retail price. Then stop off on the way back to the start of bitcoin, buy some of that then come home and sell the lot! Okay, see you soon 👍

[@mookinbabysealfurmittens]

@@ElizabethWarrenYeahYeah o7

[@stproducciones9140]

fun fact: his labcoat reads "the cook" in spanish. i see you Heisenberg

[@GenZRuinedTheWorld]

Actually it's just basic chemistry.

[@micnorton9487]

​@@GenZRuinedTheWorldSo is methamphetamine...

[@GenZRuinedTheWorld]

@@micnorton9487 "Actually it's just basic chemistry" think about it (Heisenbergler).

[@GenZRuinedTheWorld]

@@micnorton9487 it what he said to Jessie in show

[@micnorton9487]

@@GenZRuinedTheWorld AH tell you the truth I never watched it 🖖...

[@Foxy_grandpa_J]

This is only the 2nd video I’ve seen on YT from you, but I’m glad I’m getting these videos. So tired of seeing all that’s wrong in the world and honestly just mindless/pointless social media posts, now I get to have some interesting learning in small segments. Much appreciated sir!

[@donharrus9994]

So much better than the doom and gloom and narcissistic people just wanting attention...I seek educational content like this..

[@jamescorfield534]

Yeah me too

[@AriaHarmony]

Watch scishow and the action lab too! There's a lot of fun educational content on KZbin, you just need to train your algorithm to suggest that instead of the mindless drama of humankind.

[@Foxy_grandpa_J]

@@AriaHarmony awesome, thank you for the reccs I’ll be sure to check em out! Cheers 🍻

[@thespudtato6009]

I'm pretty sure this is why there is an aluminium cap on the washington monument. It used to be very expensive then :3

[@_Piers_]

That's correct, they were really unlucky with the timing - the monument was finished in 1888, the same year Alcoa started making wildly cheaper aluminium.

[@Notfiveo0]

Try dropping aluminum in a solution of lye and water…

[@jthomeskillet]

It doesn't rust

[@ATPMolloy1]

Proper spelling, well done.

[@jermainerace4156]

@@Notfiveo0 The result depends if it is soda or potash lye.

[@empressofshurima]

I'm just surprised that they didn't keep the aluminium prices artificially high, like they did with diamonds.

[@Shelleloch]

Probably because, unlike the special shiny rocks, you can't market aluminium as some sort of weird prestige with an emotional attachment. Meanwhile, DeBeers has a market monopoly and aggressive marketing, pushing "natural is better, a product of mother nature, and higher quality", dropping the "quality" part when diamond synthesis surpassed it (they just etch their name into the diamonds now).

[@brucemanly]

Well unlike diamonds, with aluminium you can't buy up all the mines and limit supply. It's everywhere

[@Justin-fl1nv]

Diamond prices are kept high because the DeBeers family has been able to create a virtual monopoly on gem quality diamonds for so long that they've been able to set the price forever.

[@pulaski1]

​@brucemanly "Everywhere" is not an overstatement: aluminium is _by far_ the most abundant metal, and the third most abundant of all elements in the earth's crust, after oxygen and silicon.

[@preppertechnicianee6013]

Mostly because scientist aren’t pieces of crap CEOs are Same thing with smallpox vaccine Polio vaccine Etc The goal is prestige not profit

[@romanbengaldrole4061]

To do this at home and avoid the toxic copper chloride, mix citric acid and copper sulfate (copper sulfate is only toxic when dehydrated and mildly toxic and corrosive in a solution, so don’t touch the solution, don’t spill it and wear gloves). Place aluminum in the mix. It releases hydrogen gas. Copper sulfate is a blue “root killer” product, citric acid is easy to find.

[@sukai121]

I wish I had you as a chem teacher in high school!

[@carlj7466]

American?

[@L4ftyOne]

No you dont, he doesnt even know that its called aluminium

[@sukai121]

@@L4ftyOne Both terms are accepted by the scientific community. What are you on about

[@turolretar]

@@sukai121you’re lying, i don’t believe you. Troll better next time.

[@gus473]

😂 That grin while doing the process... ! 😎✌️

[@iamgriff]

Alcoa manufactures a really nice line of Semi Truck rims. I do believe they are heavily into industrial rims also

[@bend3rbot]

They own aluminium canning in my country too.

[@mrkiplingreallywasanexceed8311]

I'm big into heavy industrial rimming ....🎉

[@iamgriff]

@@mrkiplingreallywasanexceed8311 😒

[@senatorjosephmccarthy2720]

What company makes the wheels for the rims?

[@Iowagrown123]

Alxoa makes a lot motr than rims.

[@eddies6977]

That looked like an aluminum sculpture of Mr. Hankey.

[@donharrus9994]

💩

[@ReginaRedding]

🎄💩🤣😆😭😆💀

[@STEAMerBear]

I love your videos. I’ve had the pleasure of working in great labs at Michigan State and Stanford. Now I am greatly challenged teaching just one period of chemistry per day(along with 5 other STEM classes) in a tiny school with few resources. You videos keep me inspired. THANK YOU!!! (I wish someone knew of or would create a video series on setting up the cheapest, safest, yet still effective chemistry classroom!)

[@Chemteacherphil]

Thank you so much for your kind words! I like your suggestion of showing cost effective chemistry experiments as well. The demo I show in this video is actually a great example of an affordable demonstration. It uses copper sulfate from root killer, muriatic acid for HCl and table salt to shift the equilibrium position to favor the formation of the copper tetrachloride complex ion which can dissolve the protective oxide layer on the aluminum foil!

[@STEAMerBear]

@@Chemteacherphil thank you!

[@gardensofthegods]

​@@Chemteacherphilgreat channel you have here . Some believe that some planes are delivering chemtrails into our skies ... and they believe they have a good bit of aluminum in them . So why do you think aluminum would be sprayed into our skies ? ... especially when people claim they are finding it in their gardens and in the soil here in America .

[@phoebus86]

And apparently you can make purple gold out it.

[@Bricknut34]

Nilered did a video on this subject

[@anurag02075]

Purple gold be trending after nilered made a video on it

[@skullthrower8904]

​@@anurag02075Ido be po mo gub be da tum

[@Dr.HooWho]

But tedious

[@lyrimetacurl0]

Seems loopy

[@RobotacularRoBob]

Aluminum? I barely know him!

[@geoben9801]

Consider that in less than a hundred years it was then made into airplanes and other aerospace vehicles and equipment as well as the thousands of other products we use every day! Amazing ! 😮

[@spiderdude2099]

Fun fact: Both spellings of Aluminum and Aluminium came from British scientists. The “American” spelling of “Aluminum” was coined by the man credited with its discovery Sir Humphrey Davey. The “British” spelling was coined by a colleague of his writing a review of Davey’s paper

[@carver3147]

Tbh that's true of practically every American spelling/vocabulary variation. Which is why it's especially hilarious to see Brits mocking US spelling/vocabulary, we got it from you!

[@nickthefox72]

@@carver3147both your reply and the original comment are incorrect but have fun

[@nickthefox72]

Incorrect. Aluminium comes from Latin and was already spelt that way. The other reply stating brits mocking spellings when most are British anyway(either spellings) is also incorrect. Americans have bastardised the English language

[@bustedkeaton]

​The language isn't special or valuable enough to be "bastardized." Only dead languages never change. ​@@nickthefox72

[@bustedkeaton]

​@@nickthefox72And that precious, sacred Latin word you're trying to think of is "alumen," not either of the words anyone is talking about.

[@himekowo]

Aluminium was actually more expensive than gold. Before they found Criolite, the heat used for melting Aluminium was much higher than Gold, Al2O3 (2050°C) Au (1064°C).

[@gwninja970]

Metal + Acid = salt + Hydrogen gas And hydrogen burns with a pop sound ❤

[@tommay681]

Lewis acid replacement reaction between copper chloride and aluminum by the looks of it.

[@venomgamer9564]

When they say believe it or not it really means you gotta do something special

[@tolkienfan1972]

That flame is beautiful!

[@geraldstiling3735]

In the UK🇬🇧 the most expensive sculpture produced was Cupid 💘in Piccadilly Circus. .Made entirely of Aluminium ❤

[@CharliesOpus]

That fire is magical 🌈

[@alexandrevaliquette3883]

Legend say that VCR was more expensive than gold in medieval time as well.

[@KJfourIPS]

I live near an Alcoa plant, and occasionally we get crucibles on flatbeds, you can feel the heat off of those things.

[@bigdude382]

I work in the aluminum industry, it's amazing how we take a solid metal and push it thru tiny dies to make insane shapes

[@a_diamond]

The flame is so beautiful though!!

[@cameronhamer9432]

Rio Tinto built a new aluminum smelter at Kitimat British Columbia , even though it’s a brand new smelter they don’t have any way to clean the toxins they release . They’ve been granted a permit to release even more than the old smelter it replaced . 👍🇨🇦

[@imrustyokay]

I love how I live near a town named after Alcoa, that was actually built by Alcoa. It's also down the road from Oak Ridge, built for the Manhattan Project!

[@seanwhitehall4652]

Being Aluminum was not what made that gift weird...

[@TheHellnfire]

His Face when he puts the match to the Beaker to light it 😮 You could picture him as a kid!

[@kovona]

They didn't actually melt the ore, but instead they found a fluoride mineral that coul be melted at low temperature and dissolve aluminum oxide - which allowed it to be electrically broken up by electrolysis to remove oxygen and render metallic aluminum. Melting aluminum ore would had needed a 2000'C furnace which was not as economical.

[@SnowTheKitsune]

Pretty color flaame!

[@HighFrequency1031]

My mom worked at Alcoa, she made good money! She was absolutely beautiful, looked like kim basinger! She never drank, never smoked, she got brain cancer at 57 they gave her 6 months to live, she made it a year and a half! Miss her every day, she never got to see my son, he has her eyes!

[@teecee14]

I guess you thought A short on aluminum was the best time to bring up how your mother died. Super weird honestly. Looks like you are fishing 🎣 for sympathy comments which is lame. If this story was true or wasn’t true, either way it would be bizarre time for anecdote like that 🤷‍♂️

[@faketaxi25]

Was it the one is whitehall MI? This video reminded me of the big plant there

[@d.sparkes346]

I used to do a similar thing when I was a kid. Water, lye, foil in a wine bottle. Put a balloon over it and let it fill. Tie it off with toilet paper as a fuse, light it and let go.

[@night1952]

Used to cause that reaction with my friends as kids and by putting it in a closed bottle it'd explode and make a loud noise, we made "flamethrowers" too.

[@Eduardo-tq5sk]

Thank you Doc!

[@daveg.4772]

Guess he wasn't interested in explaining the whole burning beaker thing...

[@admdubya2107]

Buddy looks like he invented Al smelting when I was watching Ninja Turtles.

[@BB-sc1gc]

Aluminum is produced by "refining bauxite to obtain alumina and smelting alumina to produce aluminum".

[@spizwackle6335]

Aluminum and Drano is a fun chemistry experiment.

[@JayLKing]

Fun fact: the top of the Washington Monument is made of aluminum

[@CordellEngelhardt]

I once wrote a gory short story, based in the late 1800s. Where the main character a form of detective, was chasing down a group of bandits. And the only way he was able to identify one of the men. Was by an aluminum tobacco pipe. Seeing as it was a high price item that was stolen. My detective character knew, when he found the man with it. that was his target.

[@RationallySkeptical]

That aluminum was suspiciously turd-shaped.

[@user-jk5tz2ot5s]

I agree, grew up around AL and studies chemistry but I did not remember studing Al being so reactive metal. What would happen to a plane ?

[@shirtjuggler]

I drive through the town where Hall was born pretty often. There is a sign noting that he was born there on each road entering the circle. I love those kind of signs.

[@baileymoody3916]

Thanks for telling us the chemicals you used to dissolve it.

[@bassman5066]

I learned a lot about this on a tour of Pittsburgh. Really cool stuff

[@reshanmahabeer4505]

Strange how people from different parts of the world find the same process. Like the science was already discovered, but these people were trying to decode it

[@nywherebuthere]

Try it with oven cleaner

[@timdailey2690]

gold: I’m valuable Al: “Hold my beer can”

[@ruzzodac]

The bus bars where I was were rated for 100,000 Amps, ironically made of aluminum.

[@imbabyface]

Grear channel. Thx for great info!

[@6DunJuan9]

Was doing a contract as a brickie in a smelter and the induction video shows a concrete bunker being blown apart by dropping 5 kg of molten into 5liters of water..destroyed this bunker, so you are not allowed liquids in the smelter this includes ciggie lighters. We had clearance of a 44gallon barrel of water to pour on the floor. Crane driver wasn't aware and our butts all puckered when he went over our barrel with about 8ton of molten in his cruice

[@x-xPhobia]

I wish my Chem teachers were as enthusiastic as you. They were kind and I was going through a lot in high school. So my teacher passed me with a 70. Or a D- because she felt bad. Your vids make me wish I had paid attention because I actually do have a love for science. Feels too late for me now

[@anand-ts9op]

Love from India 🥰

[@peterk3000]

🤔 So, if you have a time machine, you only need to travel back and forth between these two time periods and exchange about a tonne of aluminum ingots for a tonne of gold, and you'll never need to work again!

[@harry2928]

Thank you Phil. Or Mr. [ _______ ]. You definitely deserve to be addressed by your surname. Aluminum and other metals have captured my fascination since early childhood. Perhaps for strange intuitive reasons only understood by psychology pioneers. There's more to it than "metallic luster". At least after the age of 7. Keep it coming. Don't be shy about dipping a little more into the chem. and physics of it. God bless, keep teaching; it's the sacred act of sharing enlightenment. You're a [[Core]] contributor to our future if we're worth having one.

[@tiaspoores5479]

Sir, you are on par with Julius Sumner Miller 🤩 Physics is your business

[@oprophetisfake9482]

I think that this was one of the things that did for the Hindenburg. As well as the hydrogen gas, the frame was also partly aluminium and so it burned worse than a frame of other metal would have.

[@capt.bart.roberts4975]

One of the medieval French kings had an aluminium crown. Native aluminium is rare.

[@FantasticTeaching]

him: aluminum is very reactive. Sodium:Na

[@abz2000123]

So was aluminium foil developed to layer on top of steaks and deserts of the ridiculously vain?

[@jplouthelgm5156]

This question made both my teeth and my soul hurt! 🤣

[@DMK420.NoElectricity2gSpectrum]

Aluminium foil very very useful

[@Jsclet]

You can use lye, water and aluminum foil to make hydrogen. You can use a bottle submerge in water to keep the reaction cool.

[@4thdimenional]

Lmao I'm cracking up right now from noticing his name tag says "El Cocinero" --> The Cook lol

[@4OHz]

And it still takes A LOT of Power

[@mr.vargas5648]

Napoleon impressed his guest by using aluminium plates.

[@lbaker3602001]

The L.E.M. only had three sheets of aluminum between them & outer space.

[@joeylawn36111]

Aluminum is more reactive and easier to oxidize than iron. But aluminum, when exposed to air, forms a layer of aluminum oxide that protects the rest of the metal from further corrosion.

[@augustammirato4644]

Alternate universe they already figure out a process for gold

[@mike92505]

Alcoa can’t wait for tomorrow…anyone else remember those old commercials?😅

[@johnwsavageknives6759]

With the adventure of hydrogen Powered cars, would it be possible to build a portable generator powered by luminum cans?

[@litigioussociety4249]

I live 20 miles from Alcoa, Tennessee. Weird to have a town that's named for the main company there.

[@BuddhatheBlackDog]

So what’s the blue dyed chemical?

[@namshiv]

Damn dudes would've made a lot of money when they first found it out 😂

[@matheus_m_88]

Alcoa here and super proud of it ! 😃

[@apemancommeth8087]

Alcoa, I remember a company near me with that name that made aluminum rims!

[@toxico1152]

They could have had so much money by keeping it their secret and selling it as rare aluminum

[@philm652]

This reaction looks similar to placing aluminium into hydrochloric acid and copper chloride. What reaction is this?

[@CatfishWilly17]

Wow!!!! I never knew that!!! I love history!!!

[@srice8959]

That’s exactly why the Washington Monuments capstone is aluminum

[@tonywestbrook9876]

Refining Aluminum became the key to flight. Enabling the Wright Brothers to build a light enough engine block to power flight. Iron was too heavy.

[@duanelappe9767]

I like these shorts

[@jayknight139]

I need a few trash bags filled with used cans and a time machine.

[@alexciccone2824]

I'm going to guess it's copper II sulfate table salt and I want to say hydrochloric acid

[@zatrusofnietzche2281]

Id be interested in your opinion of aluminium oxide and health implications ?

[@NinjaofApathy]

Super cool. How did they find out that they had the same idea?

[@goodwinter6017]

Your lab coat has served its purpose!

[@coltsfoot9926]

Did you notice that the Periodic Table in the background has the correct spelling of the metal that is the subject of this video? And it isn't spelled 'Aluminum'!!!!!!

[@phildev74]

My Chem teacher was adamant, formulas were for physical work, we used equations to do the math. If anyone called the math a "formula", there was a three minute rant.

[@WokerThanThou]

Iirc, that photo of Hall was taken when he was in his 50s.

[@tinytt854]

So my aluminum foil would have made me rich back then had I known what to do with it.

[@alistairblaire6001]

Hall looks like a high school kid lol it’s wild how many important discoveries were made by people under 30

[@KaylieRayne]

Them two guys collapsed and bankrupted so many markets and people. The price went to nothing over night.

[@zanedickson2725]

Imagine how quickly that devalued Aluminium more precious than gold once upon a time, now we throw Aluminium away as trash.. Imagine if gold where ever as abundant as Aluminium.

[@youcanimaginetoo]

Can you label what you put in the beaker?

[@lookup49]

Is there a safety reason you did not tell us what you used to produce that reaction?

[@GraemeWight-wx3xz]

Much more common in the crust than gold.

[@blahblah6497]

At one point salt was worth more than gold, during the Period of great Maritime exploration and trade. The Beduin people had the market cornered in the Mediterranean as they knew how to navigate the Sahara desert and where to find the great salt flats. The salt was used to cure meats for long distance voyages overseas.

[@Skrambo92]

I like how he used a torch lighter to light a stick to light the beaker lol. DUDES, WE LOVE FIRE!

[@this_my_name9773]

he just knows how reactive aluminum is lol, safety first, worry about how many fingers you have left second