[Reading level: C1 – Advanced]
Today, aluminum is one of the most familiar metals in everyday life. We encounter it in beer cans, soft drink cans, aluminum foil, pots and pans, window frames, cars, trains, and airplanes. Yet few people know that less than 200 years ago, aluminum was an extremely rare metal and, at one point, was even more expensive than gold.
A lightweight but incredibly useful metal
One of aluminum’s most notable characteristics is its light weight. Its density is only about 2.7 g/cm³, much lower than that of iron and steel. Aluminum is also quite resistant to corrosion. When exposed to air, its surface quickly forms a very thin layer of aluminum oxide, which protects the metal underneath from further oxidation.
These properties make aluminum an ideal material for many industries. In aviation, aluminum and its alloys are used to make aircraft bodies and many other components lighter. In the automotive industry, reducing a vehicle’s weight can help reduce the amount of energy needed to operate it. In the food industry, aluminum can be rolled into extremely thin sheets or made into lightweight and convenient cans. It is also found in buildings, electrical cables, trains, and countless other products.
As a result, the amount of aluminum produced worldwide today is enormous. According to the International Aluminium Institute, in March 2026, the world produced an average of about 203,300 tonnes of primary aluminum per day – more than 200 million kilograms in just 24 hours.
But interestingly, aluminum was not always as easy to obtain as it is today.
Aluminum is abundant, but extremely difficult to produce
Aluminum is actually not rare in nature. It is one of the most abundant elements in the Earth’s crust. The problem is that aluminum almost never occurs naturally as a free metal. Instead, it is tightly bonded with other elements in minerals.
Aluminum is also a fairly chemically reactive metal. As a result, traditional metallurgical methods once used to extract many other metals could not easily be applied to aluminum. Put simply, people knew that aluminum existed, but for a long time, they did not know how to extract it in large quantities at a reasonable cost.
Today, the production process usually begins with bauxite ore. From this, alumina – aluminum oxide – is produced, and electrolysis is then used to extract aluminum metal. The electrolysis stage consumes a great deal of electricity, which is one reason why primary aluminum production remains a highly energy-intensive industry. By contrast, recycling aluminum requires only about 5% of the energy needed to produce aluminum from ore.
When aluminum was a precious metal
The first major breakthrough came in 1825, when Danish scientist Hans Christian Ørsted first produced aluminum by heating aluminum chloride with potassium. However, his product was still not pure. Two years later, in 1827, German chemist Friedrich Wöhler improved the method and obtained purer aluminum.
But producing a few samples of aluminum in a laboratory was completely different from producing tonnes of aluminum in a factory.
The early methods were both complicated and expensive, meaning that only extremely small quantities of aluminum could be produced. This scarcity turned an element that is very abundant in the Earth’s crust into a luxury material.
At the Paris Exhibition of 1855, aluminum ingots were even displayed alongside the treasures of France. According to documents from the American Chemical Society, at the time, pure aluminum cost about $115 per pound and was more expensive than gold.
A famous story often told about aluminum involves French Emperor Napoleon III. He owned a set of aluminum tableware – made from a material that was then valuable enough to impress dinner guests. An educational resource from the Royal Society of Chemistry recounts that the emperor himself and favored guests were served using aluminum tableware, while less-favored guests had to make do with gold.
Today, this sounds almost unbelievable: gold was once the more “ordinary” choice compared with aluminum.
The invention that turned aluminum from a luxury into an everyday material
Everything changed in 1886. Two young researchers on opposite sides of the Atlantic – Charles Martin Hall in the United States and Paul Héroult in France – independently developed a method of producing aluminum using electrolysis. This method later became known as the Hall–Héroult process and became the foundation of the modern aluminum industry.
Once aluminum could be produced on an industrial scale, its price fell dramatically. A metal that had once been displayed alongside royal treasures gradually became something we could drink from and then simply toss into a recycling bin.
The story of aluminum is therefore a fascinating example of how technology can change the value of a material. In just about two centuries, aluminum has gone from being a metal more expensive than gold and appearing on an emperor’s dining table to becoming a material found in beer cans, cars on the road, and airplanes flying through the sky every day.
WORD BANK:
aluminum /əˈluː.mə.nəm/ [B2] (n): nhôm
encounter /ɪnˈkaʊn.t̬ɚ/ [B2] (v): bắt gặp, gặp phải
can /kæn/ [A2] (n): lon, hộp
aluminum foil /əˈluː.mə.nəm fɔɪl/ (n): giấy nhôm, giấy bạc
pot /pɑːt/ [A2] (n): nồi
pan /pæn/ [A2] (n): chảo
notable /ˈnoʊ.t̬ə.bəl/ [C1] (adj): đáng chú ý, nổi bật
characteristic /ˌker.ək.təˈrɪs.tɪk/ [B2] (n): đặc điểm, đặc trưng
density /ˈden.sə.t̬i/ [C1] (n): khối lượng riêng, mật độ
resistant to sth /rɪˈzɪs.tənt/ [B2] (adj): có khả năng chống lại cái gì
corrosion /kəˈroʊ.ʒən/ (n): sự ăn mòn
layer /ˈleɪ.ɚ/ [B1] (n): lớp
aluminum oxide /əˈluː.mə.nəm ˈɑːk.saɪd/ (n): oxit nhôm
underneath /ˌʌn.dɚˈniːθ/ [B2] (adv): ở bên dưới, phía dưới
oxidation /ˌɑːk.səˈdeɪ.ʃən/ (n): sự oxy hóa
property /ˈprɑː.pɚ.t̬i/ [B2] (n): đặc tính, tính chất
aviation /ˌeɪ.viˈeɪ.ʃən/ [C1] (n): ngành hàng không
alloy /ˈæl.ɔɪ/ (n): hợp kim
component /kəmˈpoʊ.nənt/ [B2] (n): thành phần, bộ phận
the automotive industry /ˌɑː.t̬əˈmoʊ.t̬ɪv ˈɪn.də.stri/ (n): ngành công nghiệp ô tô
rolled /roʊld/ (adj): được cán
sheet /ʃiːt/ [A2] (n): tấm, lá
electrical cable /ɪˈlek.trɪ.kəl ˈkeɪ.bəl/ (n): cáp điện
countless /ˈkaʊnt.ləs/ [C1] (adj): vô số
enormous /ɪˈnɔːr.məs/ [B1] (adj): khổng lồ, rất lớn
primary /ˈpraɪ.mer.i/ [B2] (adj): chính, chủ yếu
obtain /əbˈteɪn/ [B2] (v): thu được, có được
abundant /əˈbʌn.dənt/ [C1] (adj): dồi dào, phong phú
element /ˈel.ə.mənt/ [B2] (n): nguyên tố
crust /krʌst/ [B2] (n): lớp vỏ
tightly /ˈtaɪt.li/ [B2] (adv): chặt chẽ, chắc
bond /bɑːnd/ [C1] (v): liên kết
fairly /ˈfer.li/ [B1] (adv): khá, tương đối
chemically reactive /ˈkem.ɪ.kəl.i riˈæk.tɪv/ (adj): hoạt động mạnh về mặt hóa học, dễ phản ứng hóa học
metallurgical method /ˌmet̬.əlˈɝː.dʒɪ.kəl ˈmeθ.əd/ (n): phương pháp luyện kim
applied to sb/sth /əˈplaɪd/ [B2] (v): được áp dụng cho ai/cái gì
put simply /pʊt ˈsɪm.pli/ (phrase): nói một cách đơn giản
extract /ɪkˈstrækt/ [B2] (v): chiết xuất, tách ra
bauxite ore /ˈbɔːk.saɪt ɔːr/ (n): quặng bô-xít
alumina /əˈluː.mə.nə/ (n): alumin, oxit nhôm
electrolysis /iˌlekˈtrɑː.lə.sɪs/ (n): sự điện phân
energy-intensive /ˈen.ɚ.dʒi ɪnˌten.sɪv/ (adj): tiêu tốn nhiều năng lượng
breakthrough /ˈbreɪk.θruː/ [C1] (n): bước đột phá
aluminum chloride /əˈluː.mə.nəm ˈklɔːr.aɪd/ (n): nhôm clorua
potassium /pəˈtæs.i.əm/ (n): kali
pure /pjʊr/ [B1] (adj): tinh khiết
chemist /ˈkem.ɪst/ [B2] (n): nhà hóa học
laboratory /ˈlæb.rə.tɔːr.i/ [B1] (n): phòng thí nghiệm
scarcity /ˈsker.sə.t̬i/ [C1] (n): sự khan hiếm
luxury /ˈlʌk.ʃɚ.i/ [B1] (n): sự xa xỉ, thứ xa xỉ
ingot /ˈɪŋ.ɡət/ (n): thỏi kim loại
emperor /ˈem.pɚ.ɚ/ [B2] (n): hoàng đế
tableware /ˈteɪ.bəl.wer/ (n): bộ đồ ăn, dụng cụ ăn uống
recount /rɪˈkaʊnt/ (v): kể lại, thuật lại
favored /ˈfeɪ.vɚd/ (adj): được ưu ái, được ưu tiên
ordinary /ˈɔːr.dən.er.i/ [A2] (adj): bình thường, thông thường
toss /tɑːs/ [B2] (v): ném, quăng
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