Aluminum is used in many of our household items. From pie pans to pop cans, Aluminum is a very common product. Charles M. Hall is an American Chemist who figured out how to produce aluminum using his electrolytic method. This method allowed aluminum to be mass produced. Hall was born on December 6th, 1863 in Thompson, Ohio. His father was a missionary and minister who was very educated. Education played a big part in his childhood. He read numerous science magazines and articles as a child. He was very interested in inventing things. He was also a piano prodigy (Britannica). When Hall began college at Oberlin College, he was quick to study chemistry. He found an interest in aluminum as it was very hard to extract at the time. This interest
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Hall’s earliest achievement was when he used a process to obtain his first sample of aluminum in his parents shed. "The process was the electrolysis of aluminum oxide dissolved in a mixture of molten cryolite and aluminum fluoride in a graphite crucible" (Craig). Hall applied for a patent and in 1886 and received it in 1889. Later that year, Hall received money from a man named Alfred E. Hunt and some other business men. Together Hall and these men founded the Pittsburg Reduction Company and Hall began to commercially produce aluminum (Craig). During the midst of all of this, Hall found the time to return to Oberlin College and show his professor that he has done what he was challenged to …show more content…
This method consists of passing an electric current through a nonmetallic conductor. This allows the aluminum to be separated from its ore. After filing his patent, Hall found out that French man named Paul Heroult who also found the electrolytic method and was applying for a patent. This provided a new level of difficulty in acquiring a patent and is also the reason that it took 3 years. Hall finally convinced the U.S. patent people that he had done the experiments earlier and received his patent. Another one of Halls greatest achievements was his company. It was originally called the Pittsburg Reduction Company. This company originally started selling aluminum at a whopping $5 per pound in 1886. This price later dropped to about 18 cents per pound 1914. His company was renamed to the Aluminum Company of America or Alcoa as it is called now. The company is currently valued at $21
Hall’s earliest achievement was when he used a process to obtain his first sample of aluminum in his parents shed. "The process was the electrolysis of aluminum oxide dissolved in a mixture of molten cryolite and aluminum fluoride in a graphite crucible" (Craig). Hall applied for a patent and in 1886 and received it in 1889. Later that year, Hall received money from a man named Alfred E. Hunt and some other business men. Together Hall and these men founded the Pittsburg Reduction Company and Hall began to commercially produce aluminum (Craig). During the midst of all of this, Hall found the time to return to Oberlin College and show his professor that he has done what he was challenged to …show more content…
This method consists of passing an electric current through a nonmetallic conductor. This allows the aluminum to be separated from its ore. After filing his patent, Hall found out that French man named Paul Heroult who also found the electrolytic method and was applying for a patent. This provided a new level of difficulty in acquiring a patent and is also the reason that it took 3 years. Hall finally convinced the U.S. patent people that he had done the experiments earlier and received his patent. Another one of Halls greatest achievements was his company. It was originally called the Pittsburg Reduction Company. This company originally started selling aluminum at a whopping $5 per pound in 1886. This price later dropped to about 18 cents per pound 1914. His company was renamed to the Aluminum Company of America or Alcoa as it is called now. The company is currently valued at $21