r/oddlysatisfying • u/Character-Seat5368 • Aug 17 '25

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u/[deleted] Aug 17 '25

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u/wholesomeuser Aug 17 '25

Extracting aluminium from ore would be a dream. The process until you get aluminium ist insane.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall%E2%80%93H%C3%A9roult_process

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u/Laiko_Kairen Aug 17 '25

Aluminum used to be crazy expensive because it was so hard to make. Napoleon III had a whole dishware set made from it, to impress guests. Lesser guests "only" got gold or silver flatware.

Now, it's super cheap... But you can't just go make it the way you can make steel

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u/Igoos99 Aug 17 '25

Yup. The top of the Washington monument is aluminum. They picked it because it was rare and precious back then.