Emperor Napoleon III had his finest dinner spoons made of aluminium. Why would an emperor make his finest cutlery with a metal as cheap as aluminium? Let us see.
Aluminium is the most abundant metal on the Earth’s crust; it makes up 7 per cent to 8 per cent of the Earth’s crust. But, aluminium is always found in combination with other elements and never found free in nature. Because of this, aluminium was not known to the world for a very long time.
Aluminium became a sensation in the early 19th century when Hans Christian Oersted, a Danish chemist produced the metal in tiny amounts. However, it was very expensive to produce, and therefore considered a luxury item, affordable only by very rich people like emperors!
By the late 19th century however, scientists developed the technique of obtaining aluminium from aluminium oxide. This increased the availability of the metal and led to the era of inexpensive aluminium.
Picture Credit : Google
