Even more remarkable is the development of aluminum. Aluminum was considered to be as valuable (if not more valuable) than gold. The peak of the Washington Monument is tipped with 100 ounces of pure aluminum, which even as late as the 1880s was considered to be too rare and valuable to be used for anything other than jewelry. And now, aluminum is just as mundane as steel, if not more so.
Yup, aluminum is even more abundant in the Earth’s crust than iron; about 8% vs. 5%. But it requires electricity for smelting and so wasn’t common until the very late 1800s or so
Even more remarkable is the development of aluminum. Aluminum was considered to be as valuable (if not more valuable) than gold. The peak of the Washington Monument is tipped with 100 ounces of pure aluminum, which even as late as the 1880s was considered to be too rare and valuable to be used for anything other than jewelry. And now, aluminum is just as mundane as steel, if not more so.
Yup, aluminum is even more abundant in the Earth’s crust than iron; about 8% vs. 5%. But it requires electricity for smelting and so wasn’t common until the very late 1800s or so