aluminum ore (bauxite)
The “magic” metal
Have you ever watched someone wrap a sandwich or cover a bowl of food
with what looks like a sheet of shining, silver paper? It isn’t paper at
all—it’s a thin sheet of the wonderful metal called aluminum.
Aluminum is a light, silvery metal. It is never found all by itself, as
a pure metal. It is always mixed with other minerals. Most aluminum
comes from a rock that looks like a bunch of brown pebbles mixed into a
piece of gray concrete. This rock is called bauxite.
Aluminum is often called the “magic” metal. It is light, very strong,
and won’t rust. It can be stretched and rolled into almost any shape. So
aluminum is used to make everything from airplanes to pots and pans to
chewing-gum wrappers.
This metal has two names. People in the United States call it aluminum
(uh LOO muh nuhm). But people in Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and
many other countries call it aluminium (al yuh [mihn]{.smallcaps} ee
uhm).
a roll of sheet aluminum
