The appearance of aluminum in the food (solid and liquid) is the cause of all the new diseases that appeared after the war. (fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's, Crohn's disease, cancers etc..
Aluminum with many properties, agri-food industries use it as food additives, under different chemical formulas: metal (E173), sulfates (E520 to E523), phosphate (E541) or silicates (E554-555-556-559).
In these forms, aluminum is used as a preservative in patisserie, yeast in cakes, bleaching agent in breads and flours, anti-agglomer in salt or baby milk powders, coloring in confectionery shops, etc...
When water is treated, aluminium salts-based flocculant agents are added, in particular to remove microorganisms in the water and to make the water cleaner and clearer. Aluminum then binds to the suspended organic particles and forms flakes that accumulate and deposit under the effect of gravity.
Aluminum sulfate Al2(SO4)3 and AlCl3 aluminum chloride are the most common flocculants because they are efficient, relatively inexpensive, and easily obtained.
Russell
"Sodium seeks balanced unity in chlorine. It does not seek it in aluminum, phosphorous or silicon. Nor do any of the elements on the red, alkaline side of the spectrum, seek union with each other, nor do those on the blue, acid side seek union with each other." [Atomic Suicide, page 84-85]
Charles Hall
Aluminum was once more expensive than gold, and in 1886, a chemistry professor is said to have said in class:
If someone could figure out how to make it cheap, they would be rich in no time.
One of the students, Charles Hall, took these words to heart and began trying and figuring out how to smelt aluminum from bauxite.
He did it using his mother’s kitchen utensils and everyday tools. He was persistent and smart, and never gave up on experimenting, trying and failing often.
And indeed, after many attempts, he came up with a very cheap way to smelt aluminum and changed the world forever. Charles Hall later became one of the founders of Alcoa, the aluminum company.
His discovery led to the first widespread use of a metal since the discovery of iron.
So it’s no small feat. And yes, he made a lot of money from this discovery, as his chemistry teacher told him.
The Apex of Western Civilization…
Today in History - On today’s date 141 years ago, Wednesday, November 12, 1884, the 100-ounce aluminium apex of the pyramidion stone at the top the Washington Monument was cast at the Frishmuth Foundry in Philadelphia.
To celebrate the anniversary of the 1884 casting, a commemorative centennial event was held in the same Frishmuth building that was still operating as a foundry 100 years later. A replica of the pyramid, exact in size, weight, & composition, was cast on November 12, 1984, & was displayed by Tiffany’s in New York City.
In 1986, Frishmuth’s Foundry at the corner of Rush & Amber Streets in Philadelphia (still producing commercial castings) was designated as a historical landmark by ASM International (formerly known as the American Society for Metals). A cast-aluminium plaque affixed to the building bears the citation “Colonel Frishmuth’s Foundry has been designated an Historical Landmark. The site of the first commercial aluminum-reduction facility in the United States of America & the only producer of aluminum from its ore until the late 1880s.”
In 1884, aluminium was a rare & precious metal, more expensive than gold or platinum, but that changed four years later in 1888, when noted American inventor Charles Martin Hall (1863-1914), together with noted American metallurgist, industrialist, & financier Alfred E. Hunt (1855-1899), founded the Pittsburgh Reduction Company - now known as the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA). By 1914, Charles Martin Hall had brought the cost of aluminium down to 18 cents per pound & it was no longer considered a precious metal.
Astute readers may have noticed the variation in spelling of “aluminium” & “aluminum” - the proper spelling is “aluminium,” but we have used the variant spelling “aluminum” in quotation marks. The discoverer of aluminium, noted British chemist & inventor Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829) first named it “alumium” in 1807, then changed it to “aluminum,” & finally settled on “aluminium” in 1812. Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary used the “aluminum” spelling, which caused that spelling to become commonplace in the USA, even though most of the rest of the world has always used the proper spelling - “aluminium.” The International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) officially standardized on “aluminium” in 1990, although this appears to have done very little to change the way people in the USA spell the word for day-to-day purposes.
See Also
Calcium-Magnesium Balance
Table of the Elements - Russell Elements