[Sca-cooks] Aluminum

[Chris Stanifer]

--- margaret <m.p.decker at att.net> wrote:

> > It's my understanding that Aluminum, in it's metallic state, was first 
> > achieved by Hans Oersted in
> > 1825...some 4 years after Napoleon's death.
> >
> > William de Grandfort
> 
> The question might be more properly which Napoleon?  Napoleon I was dead 
> before aluminum was extracted experimentally.  Nappy II was a non-entity. 
> Napoleon III reigned from 1852 through 1871, when he was deposed at the 
> close of the Franco-Prussian War.  Since the first practical extraction and 
> production process was developed in 1857 by Henri Etienne Saint-Claire 
> Deville (a French guy, funny huh), I would suspect the Napoleon mentioned 
> above was Napoleon III.
> 
> Bear 


Yes, and at the time of the discovery, the price of aluminum was through the roof, so it's
entirely possible that a 'man of influence' like Napo 3 might have had the street cred to obtain a
service set or two of the precious metal.  However, I wouldn't call Deville's discovery a
'practical extraction and production process'.  It wasn't until well into the 1880's that aluminum
was being produced in 'industrial' quantities, using a process (the name of which escapes me) of
extraction through molten cryolite (as has been mentioned) and an electric charge.  Funny, I just
saw a show on this on the History channel a few weeks ago.

I guess we should ask WHICH Napoleon was flashing around Aluminum plates???

William de Grandfort

=====
Through teeth of sharks, the Autumn barks.....and Winter squarely bites me.


		
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