Page 135 - The Periodic Table Book

Uses RECYCLING ALUMINIUM

Aluminium is expensive to purify, so it is often recycled instead.
Tennis racket This foil does not Drinks cans are almost 100 per cent pure aluminium and can
be shredded, melted down, and made into new cans.
break even as it is
bent and twisted.
1. Used cans are
collected for processing.
7. New cans 2. They are crushed
This aluminium frame are made from into small bricks. The Boron Group
makes the racket light. Aluminium foil these sheets.

This suit protects 6. These are 3. The blocks
against temperatures pressed into are shredded
up to 1,000°C (1,800°F). metal sheets. into tiny pieces.

5. The blocks are
Aluminium can smaller sections. 4. The pieces are then
then cast into
melted into large blocks.

Parts of this dome
This can is produced
from recycled aluminium. Smartwatch are made of aluminium.

Recycling
one aluminium can
saves enough energy
to run a TV for
three hours.
Aluminium
cables are Esplanade Theatre,
lightweight. Singapore
The aluminium
casing protects
the touchscreen.

This plane’s fuselage is built Boeing 737
from sheets of aluminium
Fire protection suit
stretched around a frame.
Overhead cables

this foil reflects away heat. Aluminium is a steel-based one, which would collapse
the most widely used metal after iron. It is under its own weight. Aluminium is also a
very lightweight compared to iron’s alloy steel good electrical conductor and so is used in
and almost as strong. A dome made from overhead cables. Tough aluminium alloys
aluminium, such as the one in the Esplanade are used to produce parts of some aircraft,
Theatre in Singapore, can be much larger than including the Boeing 737. 133

132-133_Aluminium.indd 133 02/12/16 10:06 pm