Aluminium or aluminum

[Jaseth]

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!

I think the scientific part of my Uni has one of those.. I saw one with a hell of a lot of information on the other day while passing on a message to a buddy in class anyway. I will check the spelling on that one

And to your other comment: Haha, yeah I was exaggerating a lot myself
I say I feel like killing people who say "sodder" too, but I only wanna KICK THEM IN THE NUUUTS!

Seb

 

[Benm]

IUPAC accepted aluminium as the name for the substance somewhere in the 90s - so from a chemists standpoint that sets the standard.

 

[Things]

It's been aluminium on every periodic table I have seen myself, but aluminum just sounds dumb

 

[larrball]

Doin't tell the collage alumi this.

http://www.webelements.com/aluminium/

 

[Jaseth]

LOL larrball! How the hell can they have a link to /aluminium and have the file name aluminium.gif and still have the picture say aluminum? It makes no sense!

Btw, I just checked out the large periodic table.. it doesn't have all the information PBD wrote before (but still about 80% of it), but it clearly says "Aluminium".
I guess it really is only up to whether you live in the US or not.

Seb

EDIT: oh I thought the images were from the link.. so the link does support aluminium but the gif doesn't.. hmm.

 

[pullbangdead]

http://sargentwelch.com/notebook-sized-periodic-tables/p/IG0039627/

Best Periodic Table Ever, everyone should have one.

Everyone should also have one of these wallet-sized periodic tables as well, because you never know when you might need a periodic table in your wallet (less useful now with smartphones that have periodic table apps and internet enabled for downloading web-based tables, but still useful). I've definitely won drinks/bets/etc with my wallet periodic table. American Chemical Society

But really, the elements have different names in different languages. Many words in English are spelled or pronounced differently in different English dialects (I already mentioned color/colour), so why shouldn't aluminum/aluminium be pronounced and spelled differently? For the record, my Brazilian officemates say "aluminum" because they have been in the US for some time, but both agree that when in France (where they both got their masters degrees) or Brazil, people would say "aluminium" when speaking in English.

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And in a nearly unrelated, but interesting, story: the capstone of the Washington Monument in Washington DC is made of aluminum. As the article mentioned, at the time, pure aluminum metal was very rare and very expensive. So when they chose an expensive metal to fashion the capstone of the massive monument, they chose aluminum.

 

[larrball]

LOL larrball! How the hell can they have a link to /aluminium and have the file name aluminium.gif and still have the picture say aluminum? It makes no sense!

Btw, I just checked out the large periodic table.. it doesn't have all the information PBD wrote before (but still about 80% of it), but it clearly says "Aluminium".
I guess it really is only up to whether you live in the US or not.

Seb

EDIT: oh I thought the images were from the link.. so the link does support aluminium but the gif doesn't.. hmm.

That's my bad typo seb.. Op's

 

[Trevor]

Another very interesting property if aluminium is that when rolled down to a very thin sheet, the result is tinfoil

Mental note: roll out lead foil and call it gold.

Trevor

 

[Benm]

Hmm.. too bad these things dont always work the way you want them to

Gold can be 'made' though, it just takes a nuclear reactor, mercury and a reprocessing plant. Only problem is that the gold coming out of that is more expensive than just buying it...

 

[Jaseth]

Just like you can make diamonds with coal, pressure and heat (and probably something else I am unaware of), but it will be way more expensive than buying natural diamonds.
However.. some day our reserves of gold and/or diamonds may have been depleted, every found piece having been dirtied and spread out in different jewellery and electronics, and that day it will be both scientifically and economically beneficial to produce more.

Seb

 

[Mohrenberg]

yeah it's called aluminum in america, although i must admit that aluminium makes it sounds alot cooler

 

[john_lawson]

hey lets keep this thread to a Alu-minimum-ha lol ok i'll shut up now

 

[Mohrenberg]

Just like you can make diamonds with coal, pressure and heat (and probably something else I am unaware of), but it will be way more expensive than buying natural diamonds.
However.. some day our reserves of gold and/or diamonds may have been depleted, every found piece having been dirtied and spread out in different jewellery and electronics, and that day it will be both scientifically and economically beneficial to produce more.

Seb

it's not really possible to run out of diamond though....since they can be artificially produced now....out of almost anything made up of carbon

 

[33846]

I always thought it was spelled aluminum because I have never seen it spelled any other way, until now. But aluminum sounds better to me..

 

[Benm]

Diamond is very commonly synthesized these days, through various processes. Most of it are tiny diamonds intended for tool use, but they are popping out gem quality stones as well. Especially very yellow 'canary' diamonds are often lab grown, since they are very rare in nature but relatively easy to produce that way on purpose.

 

[pullbangdead]

Diamond is very commonly synthesized these days, through various processes. Most of it are tiny diamonds intended for tool use, but they are popping out gem quality stones as well. Especially very yellow 'canary' diamonds are often lab grown, since they are very rare in nature but relatively easy to produce that way on purpose.

Yep, you can turn carbon into diamond nowadays without too much sweat at all. There's a whole industry around now for getting loved sources of carbon incorporated into/turned into diamond. And yes, I said loved sources of carbon. It can be locks of hair, it can be the ashes from a cremated loved one (human or pet, people do both now), any source of carbon can be transformed into gem-quality diamonds now. You can look it up, it's not even as expensive as you might think.

And there are lots of ways to make diamond or diamond-like carbon if you don't mind it being small pieces, or especially if you just want a thin film of it. No sweat at all.