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Aluminum used to be so hard to process that if was seen as a status of the most wealthy. Napoleon would present his most honored guest with plate made from Aluminum and his less honorable guests with… 19th Century History (thelemmy.club)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/historymemes@piefed.social
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[–] 30 points 5 months ago (1 child)

with... What? Don't leave us hanging!

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    • [–] 25 points 5 months ago

    Also why the Washington Monument has a cap of aluminum. Fancy!

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    [–] 9 points 5 months ago (6 children)

    How'd they do that

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  • [–] 23 points 5 months ago (5 children)

    Electricity.

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  • [–] 11 points 5 months ago (4 children)

    Ahh I understand now

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  • [–] 18 points 5 months ago (3 children)

    That's literally the answer though. They used electricity to process aluminum in a new way and much much much more cheaply than was possible before.

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  • [–] 13 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    No yeah I wasn't kidding. I genuinely understand now

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    • [–] 15 points 5 months ago* (5 children)

    *aluminium, aluminum not real element.

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  • [–] 6 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    That's it. Just for that, I propose we rename the rest of the periodic table to match aluminum.

    The third element is Lithum. Beryllum is the alkali earth element with four protons. Sodum combined with chlorine to make table salt. Mangesum is a highly abundant metal usable for structural applications. Potassum is found in bananas. Calcum is required for bone health...

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  • [+] 4 points 5 months ago (2 children)
    [removed by mod]
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  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago (1 child)
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    [–] 5 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    How times have changed. The value of aluminium is now that it is easy to bend, for dads who want to make custom brackets.

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    • [–] 5 points 5 months ago*

    *Paul Héroult

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