chemists

History-Aluminum was cosidered a semi-precious metal back in the 1880's before Hall's invention. Aluminum was in the price range of silver and gold prior to Hall's invention.

Biography-Charles Martin Hall, born to a minister in Thompson, Ohio on December 6, 1863, was credited with the invention of the process of making man-made aluminum. As a young boy, Hall picked up a book about metals and declared making an affordable process to manufacture aluminum his life goal. Hall was a student at Oberlin College in Ohio from 1880-1883. Hall had always been genuinely interested in chemistry, but did not take a formal chemistry class until his junior year of college. During his freshman year of college, Hall mentioned his intention to create a process for making affordable aluminum to his fore-mentioned chemistry teacher, Professor Jewett, while buying laboratory supplies. Jewett was interested in Hall's goal, and funded his experiments, making multiple suggestions along the way.
When Charles Martin Hall had finally invented a process for making man-made aluminum, he had to fight to get U.S. patent. A French chemist, named Hewitt, said he created the process first. Additionally, many large companies tried to buy his patent rights from him. After almost three years of legal battles, Charles Martin Hall could claim his patent his own, while establishing his own company. Because of the important uses for aluminum and with the success of his company, Hall became a millionaire, donating millions of dollars to Oberlin College.

The Electrolysis Process for Making Aluminum- In Hall's day, there was a method for making aluminum, but a costly one. Before Hall patented his successful experiment, he had many failures. Hall "tweaked" the proportions of chemicals until he finally got the correct amount of each element in his experiment. Hall documented his work so he could go back to it and easily evaluate how he needed to adjust his procedure the next time.
        Hall worked with aluminum fluoride because it had never been tried before. Before using electroylsis, Hall tried to melt the other elements combined with aluminum via nature.   He knew that water-free fused salts were good solvents for aluminum oxide. He also had a furnace that was capable of producing high enough temperatures for the other elements aluminum was found with in nature. Although he got some aluminum from this experiment, he did not get a substantial amount and consequently tried "electroysis."
        In the 1880's most people had to make their own batteries. Hall made batteries of zinc in diluted sulfuric acid and graphite in concentrated nitric acid, (known as Bunsen batteries). The battery was very inefficient, consuming large quantities of zinc, and produced noxious fumes. On February 23, 1886, Hall carried out his first successful attempt to make synthetic aluminum. Hall decided to use a new solution of double fluoride of aluminum and sodium (known in the 19th century as cryolite) along with aluminum oxide, which created ALUMINUM!
So, How was Aluminum Created? Aluminum was created during this experiment because graphite is consumed while carbon dioxide is formed at the anode (positive part of the battery). At the cathode (the negative part of the battery), liquid aluminum is formed. Since the density of the liquid aluminum is greater than the density of liquid cryolite, liquid aluminum collects on the bottom. There, aluminum is protected by the cryolite from being oxidized, while it hardens into solid aluminum.

So What?- By 1914, the price of aluminum had rapidly decreased to $.18 per pound. After being mass produced in Hall's factories, aluminum was easily accessible to the public.
                               THE IMPORTANCE OF ALUMINUM
          Today, aluminum has many uses. Aluminum is a very light metal, yet is very strong. In fact, aluminum's mass is less than one-third the mass of steel with the equivalent volume. Aluminum is used in the manufacture of automobiles, airplanes, railroad car, and bicycles: anything in which mobility and energy conservation are important. Because aluminum has the ability to conduct heat very well, it is used for internal-combustion engines, as well as cooking devices (such as pans). Aluminum is also widely used as a conductor of electricity in the form of wire (especially telephone wire). Aluminum wire is thicker and lighter than the popular copper wire, which is very important for long-distance electricity transmission. Aluminum is also used for architectural purposes, such as siding, and storm windows, both great for insulation. Aluminum is used in foil form (a.k.a aluminum foil), as well as beverage containers because of its ease of mobility. Today the world production of aluminum numbers around 19 million metric tons, costing less than $2 per kilogram.