Does aluminum have a shelf life? Does it age harden while in storage?

[AntoineJackson]

Does Aluminum not have a specified “shelf life”? Although age hardening requires special heat treatment and applies only to a few alloys.

 

[AdrienIer]

Aluminum does not oxidate (oxydate ? oxydes ?), or more precisely is already oxidated, so it can't rust. That makes it very resistant to time.

 

[Cutlass]

Aluminum airplanes built in the 1940s are still flying. So there's not really an age you have to worry about it.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Aluminum does not oxidate (oxydate ? oxydes ?), or more precisely is already oxidated, so it can't rust. That makes it very resistant to time.

Just being helpful, the word you were looking for is oxidize.

 

[warpus]

Speaking of which, when and why did Americans drop the i from the name? I don't think y'all did that with any of the other elements, so why this one?

 

[shadowplay]

Does aluminum have a shelf life? Does it age harden while in storage?
Aluminum does not have a specified “shelf life” and will not age harden. Age hardening requires special heat treatment and applies only to a few alloys.

From big aluminum: https://www.unitedaluminum.com/technical-resources-and-tools/faq/#t13

 

[Cutlass]

Speaking of which, when and why did Americans drop the i from the name? I don't think y'all did that with any of the other elements, so why this one?

We like to spell things better than the Brits.

 

[shadowplay]

My fullest apologies to Her Majesty for accidentally using vulgar American spelling.

 

[warpus]

We like to spell things better than the Brits.

But what about Lithium, Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium, etc.

What's was it about Aluminium in particular that made Abraham Lincoln go: "We're going to change this one, but none of the others" ?

 

[Cutlass]

But what about Lithium, Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium, etc.

What's was it about Aluminium in particular that made Abraham Lincoln go: "We're going to change this one, but none of the others" ?

The Brit pronunciation of aluminum was particularly appalling.

 

[warpus]

That's not just the Brit spelling and pronunciation, we do it the same way in Polish.

So there isn't really a good explanation? They just got drunk one night and picked it out of the hat or something? I'm used to it now, after 20+ years, but at first it sounds very odd with that dropped i. Imagine Sodium without the i - that's how odd it was at first. If you're used to it, yeah, it seems normal.

 

[Cutlass]

It's not like there was ever any cohesive plan. British English just evolved in a different direction than American English. American English remained closer to what English was at the time of the American Revolution, and British English changed more. And not for the better.

 

[warpus]

Yeah I know there wasn't a plan, I just thought that since it's the only element that was altered that there would be a story behind it.

 

[shadowplay]

Something approaching Shakespearean speech can sometimes be encountered in isolated valleys in the Appalachian or Ozarks, where words like afeard, yourn, sassy and consarn, and old pronunciations like “jine” for join, can still sometimes be heard

That reads like a joke.

 

[Silurian]

It's not like there was ever any cohesive plan. British English just evolved in a different direction than American English. American English remained closer to what English was at the time of the American Revolution, and British English changed more. And not for the better.

I was in Holland with a person who spoke Afrikaans a few years ago. He could be understood just about but found it hard to understand the Dutch speakers. A bit more divergences than the USA UK.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

But what about Lithium, Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium, etc.

What's was it about Aluminium in particular that made Abraham Lincoln go: "We're going to change this one, but none of the others" ?

Lincoln didn't do it. It happened later, when beverage containers brought the word aluminum into common usage. We would possibly correct some of the others if they ever came into common usage, but since they are mostly contained in the realm of chemists and the like there hasn't been any reason.

 

[warpus]

Yeah I know, I just thought it'd be a funny conceptual image to have one of your founding fathers deciding all the new spellings all at once in some sort of a decree (If he's not one of your founding fathers pretend that he is)

Your explanation sounds probable enough!

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Yeah I know, I just thought it'd be a funny conceptual image to have one of your founding fathers deciding all the new spellings all at once in some sort of a decree (If he's not one of your founding fathers pretend that he is)

Your explanation sounds probable enough!

Thanks. Now we just need to find a way to get some other element name into common usage as a confirmation test.

 

[warpus]

Let's start with Uranum

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Let's start with Uranum

Okay, but I think it's been tried and failed. There was a time when "uranium bomb" could have perhaps gotten into common usage, but the catchier "atom bomb" carried the day. I'm willing though. How do we go about getting it into widespread conversational use? Can't exactly make soda cans out of it, though that would certainly get people talking about it!