Aluminium

Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English ) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. It is a silvery-white, soft, non-magnetic and ductile metal in the boron group. By mass, aluminum makes up about 8% of the Earth's crust, it is the third most abundant element after oxygen and silicon and the most abundant metal in the crust, though it is less common in the mantle below. The chief ore of aluminum is bauxite. Aluminum metal is highly reactive, such that native specimens are rare and limited to extreme reducing environments. Instead, it is found combined in over 270 different minerals.

Aluminum is remarkable for its low density and its ability to resist corrosion through the phenomenon of passivation. Aluminum and its alloys are vital to the aerospace industry and important in transportation and building industries, such as building facades and window frames. The oxides and sulfates are the most useful compounds of aluminum.

Despite its prevalence in the environment, no known form of life uses aluminum salts metabolically, but aluminum is well tolerated by plants and animals. Because of these salts' abundance, the potential for a biological role for them is of continuing interest, and studies continue.

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Aluminum ingots and Bauxite are heavily traded commodities on the Union market. It is also traded across Union borders. Bauxite is mined and processed on many planets and it is important but is not considered a strategic commodity. The Union produced approximately 800 billion tons of Aluminum in 5030