Aluminum or Aluminium? Trivia Quiz

Answer: 13

Aluminum/aluminium is element number 13 of the periodic table. Its most abundant isotope (aluminum/aluminium 27) contains 13 protons and 14 neutrons. It is part of group 13 of the periodic table, a group which also includes the elements boron (5), gallium (31), indium (49) and thallium (81).

Answer: Bauxite

Aluminum/aluminium is a rather abundant element on the Earth, but the element is rarely seen on its own in nature. Bauxite is a natural ore from which the element can be mined. The ore was first discovered by Pierre Berthier, a French geologist, in 1821. Australia and China are two of the top nations that produce bauxite.

Answer: 1825

Pure aluminum/aluminium is a soft silver/white metal. As stated earlier, aluminum/aluminium is often found in minerals and compounds and is very rarely found on its own in nature. Knowledge of the element may have existed in ancient times, but it wasn't until 1825 that the element would first be isolated from one of its compounds.

Answer: Danish

The person who is credited with first isolating pure aluminum/aluminium was Danish chemist Hans Christian Oersted. In 1825, Oersted conducted an experiment using aluminum/aluminium chloride with a potassium-rich metal alloy. The reaction of the materials resulted in the successful isolation of pure elemental aluminum/aluminium.

Answer: Yes

Aluminum/aluminium will oxidize fairly quickly when exposed to the Earth's atmosphere. Aluminum/aluminium oxide is not flammable. However, pure aluminum/aluminium is highly flammable. One example of the element's flammability can be seen in a video made by the Periodic Videos YouTube channel, where some aluminum/aluminium powder was sprayed towards a Bunsen burner, producing a large flame.

Answer: Weird Al Yankovic

"Foil" is the name of a song released by comedic musician Weird Al Yankovic in 2014. In the song, Weird Al talks about a few things that can be done using aluminum/aluminium foil, such as preserving food as well as "protecting" people from government conspiracies. "Foil" is a parody of the song entitled "Royals" released by New Zealand pop singer Lorde in 2013.

Answer: The Moon

The Fallen Astronaut is a small aluminum/aluminium sculpture designed to look like a little astronaut. It was created by Belgian sculptor Paul Van Hoeydonck to commemorate astronauts and cosmonauts who had died during the Space Race. The sculpture was sent to the moon aboard Apollo 15 in 1971 and was left behind along with a plaque that displayed the names of the men who had fallen.

Answer: True

Due to its rarity in nature, aluminum/aluminium metal became extremely expensive to produce during the 1800s. Because of this, items made from it became more expensive than those made from silver and gold. Over the years, as better aluminum/aluminium isolation methods came about, the metal became a lot cheaper to produce and its value was significantly lowered.

Answer: Their mouths or heads would shrink

Alum (aluminum/aluminium potassium sulfate) is a substance used in making pickles. Alum on its own is known to have a very sour taste, which can result in puckering of the lips when too much was used. This effect was exaggerated in several old school cartoons such as "Looney Tunes", where a character's mouth or head would shrink after accidentally ingesting the substance.

Answer: Aluminium

The element was actually given the name aluminum first by Sir Humphry Davy who named the element in 1808 before the element was first isolated. It was later changed to aluminium. In 1990, the IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) decided that aluminium would be the element's official name in order to keep it consistent with the naming of other elements.

However, despite the ruling, the U.S. still prefers to use aluminum as the name of the element.