Personal Narrative: Aluminum

The product that I chose was my computer because it was something that I built myself and I use it for most of my time everyday. My computer is meaningful to me because I built it, it is something that I worked hard on creating and getting to work. The element involved is aluminum or aluminium depending on how you want to spell it. This is element 13 on the periodic table and it is the frame of the computer. Aluminum is one of the most versatile recyclable materials on the planet. Aluminum is obtained by mining it from the Earth, the material is called bauxite, also known as aluminum oxide. Aluminum is one of the top 5 most abundant elements on the planet making it easier to obtain than other materials. After the bauxite is mined it is then

Next the bauxite has to be turned into alumina which can be separated from the bauxite by using a hot solution, normally a solution of lime and caustic soda. The solution with the bauxite is then heated and filtered until all the alumina has been filtered from the bauxite, it is then dried. The next step is to process the alumina into aluminum. There are 3 parts in making aluminum; electricity, carbon, and aluminum oxide. They use electricity to melt the aluminum by having the electricity react with the oxygen turning it into carbon dioxide. This causes the aluminum to be a liquid to be then sent to be made into ingots or alloys. Depending on what the aluminum is going to be used for it will be made into different types of ingots. Aluminum is then further processed into whatever the product is. If it is for a frame for a chair, ladder, or a bike to list a few things it goes through a process called extrusion. Extrusion is when an ingot is heated and then pushed through a shaped tool called a die, this process to sort of similar to when you pushed some play doh through a shaped hole in a stencil and it then kept that shape. Another process is rolling, this is when the ingots are turned into