aluminum

Aluminum is the third most abundant element in the Earth's crust and was probably formed during the birth of our solar system through collisions of hydrogen atoms under intense heat and pressure. Aluminum never occurs as a metal in nature and is only found in the form of its compounds, such as alumina, because of its strong affinity with oxygen. It is this special bond for oxygen that explains why it withstood all attempts to …

…step is to drive off the remaining moisture by passing the alumina, which now looks like white mud, through kilns that heat it to more than 1000 deg C (1830 deg F). When it is dry, and about 99 percent pure, it is stored in silos, ready for the next process that turns the alumina into aluminum. This next step is called the Hall-Heroult process. The smelting takes place in huge pots in which molten cryolite is poured.