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Aluminium or aluminum






The spelling without the i always puzzled me a bit, and its an american thing i suppose. As a chemist i've always used aluminium, and its spelled like that in the rest of the world too.

Names for elements often end in -ium, and rarely in -num (molybdenum and plantinum being exceptions, as any rule needs those ;) ).
 
To me, saying aluminum makes you sound like you don't really have a clue what you are talking about and are too lazy to even pronounce the word correctly.. I know it is what most people say in the US but I still really don't like it.
Aluminium is how I have always been taught to write it, and it seems more scientific. How sad to see that Firefox spell check corrects it to "Aluminum".. but I guess that's the same way in which it removes the "u" every time I spell a word with the British "ou" - colour, honour, flavour.
Oh hey, I just downloaded the UK spell check. Now "Aluminum" is wrong. Awesome.

Seb
 
Ah well, the funniest version i sometimes hear is 'aluminimum' - handy for those who cannot choose ;)
 
Well, we can't choose here, it's "Aluminio" in Spanish, so no worries :p

I'll check this today on my English class to see if both are accepted.
 
Its probably so widely used it has become a de facto alternate spelling.

Another very interesting property if aluminium is that when rolled down to a very thin sheet, the result is tinfoil ;)
 
Benm said:
Its probably so widely used it has become a de facto alternate spelling.

Another very interesting property if aluminium is that when rolled down to a very thin sheet, the result is tinfoil ;)
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Once again this seems to be a word born through laziness. I have always said aluminium foil and at first thought tin foil was another type, actually made of tin!
In Denmark we call aluminium foil "sølvpapir" which means "silver paper".. I guess our laziness (and ignorance) is even greater!

Seb
 
Jaseth said:
To me, saying aluminum makes you sound like you don't really have a clue what you are talking about and are too lazy to even pronounce the word correctly.. I know it is what most people say in the US but I still really don't like it.
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Well I guess that's fair, because I always thought that people who insist on saying "aluminium" are cheeky, and full of themselves.


:D:crackup:

I keed, I keed.

But seriously, every other element has different names, and MANY words have different spellings in different places, even in the same language. I ask what color aluminum is in the US, and across the pond someone says the colour of aluminium is silver.
 
pullbangdead said:
Well I guess that's fair, because I always thought that people who insist on saying "aluminium" are cheeky, and full of themselves.


:D:crackup:

I keed, I keed.

But seriously, every other element has different names, and MANY words have different spellings in different places, even in the same language. I ask what color aluminum is in the US, and across the pond someone says the colour of aluminium is silver.
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I always say "Aluminium", that's what it is on the periodic table, so that's it's correct name.

So Aluminum and Solder said as " Sodder " annoys me ! ;) Really can't understand how you got "Sodder" from " Solder ".
 
diachi said:
I always say "Aluminium", that's what it is on the periodic table, so that's it's correct name.

So Aluminum and Solder said as " Sodder " annoys me ! ;) Really can't understand how you got "Sodder" from " Solder ".
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Well maybe on your periodic table it says aluminium, but I can see at least 6 periodic tables from where I'm sitting right now, and every one of them says "aluminum" on it, including my Sargent-Welch Mother-of-All-Periodic-Tables.

One periodic table, and it gives atomic weight, atomic number, oxidation states, symbol, electron configuration, name, density at 300K, Boiling point, melting point, crystal structure, acid/base properties, electronegativity, heat of vaporization, heat of fusion, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, first ionization potential, atomic volume, atomic radius and covalent radius for every element; as well as a chart of ionic character vs. electronegativity, a chart of subatomic particle properties (neutron, proton, electron, photon, neutrino, with symbol, rest mass, relative atomic mass, charge, radius, spin quantum number, and magnetic moment for each), and a table of radioactive isotopes and their decay properties. So boo-yah!
 
pullbangdead said:
Well maybe on your periodic table it says aluminium, but I can see at least 6 periodic tables from where I'm sitting right now, and every one of them says "aluminum" on it, including my Sargent-Welch Mother-of-All-Periodic-Tables.

One periodic table, and it gives atomic weight, atomic number, oxidation states, symbol, electron configuration, name, density at 300K, Boiling point, melting point, crystal structure, acid/base properties, electronegativity, heat of vaporization, heat of fusion, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, first ionization potential, atomic volume, atomic radius and covalent radius for every element; as well as a chart of ionic character vs. electronegativity, a chart of subatomic particle properties (neutron, proton, electron, photon, neutrino, with symbol, rest mass, relative atomic mass, charge, radius, spin quantum number, and magnetic moment for each), and a table of radioactive isotopes and their decay properties. So boo-yah!
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Oh my , my WHOLE data book doesn't give all of that. I get: Density, melting point, boiling point, relative atomic mass, symbol, atomic number electron configuration,. that's for all elements.

I get these for SOME elements/compounds :

Electronegativity, ionic radius, covalent radius, heat of fusion, heat of vaporisation, specific heat capacity, SOME spectral lines for selected elements, first second third and fourth ionisation energies, weights of selected inorganic compounds, weights of selected organic compounds soluability of selected compounds, valency of selected compounds and some other stuff which I can't think of off of the top of my head. :D

But yeah, I think it's only the Americans that seem to use Aluminum, any periodic table I have seen here in the UK says Aluminium. IF anyone else whos not American uses Aluminum please post here ? :p
 
Very interesting topic, i honestly never caught that slight difference in spelling before :undecided:
 
Having attended schools in both the UK and the US, it was a mystery to me until I read that article.
 
I have here, a periodic chart published by Frey Scientific in 1984. It spells element 13 as "Aluminum"

Mike
 
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