british aluminium
1982 the canadian - owned alcan aluminium uk ltd acquired british aluminium co, the resultant new company being called british alcan ltd .
urltoken an explanation of the words aluminium and aluminum. aluminium or aluminum, aluminum vs aluminium, the difference between british english and american english, aluminum or aluminium, aluminium or aluminum
1955 british aluminium co acquired a majority interest in magnesium elektron [ 7 ] .
see more: 10 american words you’ll never hear a british person say watch: american vs. british words for clothes 10 british words that baffle americans
1978 reynolds sold its stake in british aluminium co and t. i. aluminium increased its holding to 58% with 42% being floated .
british aluminium limited. free business summary taken from official companies house information. free alerts. registered as 03981390
labels: aluminium, aluminum, american vs. british english, articles, blog, pronunciations, science, spelling
british aluminium llc is a family ran business that was established in 2012, in the state of qatar, in response to market demands for high end european aluminium glazing products in the gulf region. british aluminium are now considered the best suppliers in qatar for high end products .
dear america: just because i' m british does not me ...
wwi. during the first world war bauxite rights were acquired in british guiana .
1894 company founded. the british aluminium co ltd was formed on 7 may, acquiring the british and colonial rights for the bayer and héroult patents for alumina extraction and aluminium reduction. the company was registered to acquire mines in the north of ireland, and certain patent rights connected with the manufacture of aluminium, with a freehold factory at foyers, near inverness. [ 1 ]
the ordinary general meeting of the british aluminium co. , ltd. , was held on march 30th, at winchester house, london, e. c .
what? you mean that there was no british naval vessel called the h. m. s. aluminium, fighting off spanish and french privateers? ; - )
sometimes, it' s better hearing me in a british accent. click the red button below .
formerly transport officer of the british oxygen co. , ltd. , has been appointed transport director .
in addition to aluminium fire resistant systems we also manufacture other unique technologically advanced aluminium glazing products that can be used for superior sound & heat control .
following up a topical words piece on the international spelling of what british english writes as sulphur, many american subscribers wrote in to ask about another element with two spellings: aluminium .
1897 british aluminium co commenced production of carbon at greenock, inverclyde. rolling mills were situated at milton, stoke - on - trent, and warrington, cheshire, in england .
us aluminium giant alcoa is to buy british components maker firth rixson for $ 2. 85bn (£1. 7bn) from its private equity owners to beef up its aerospace operations .
this link between aluminium corporations, governments and war still rings true today. in alfeds parliamentary breakfast meeting march 23rd 2010 the aluminium federation' s immediate past president henry dickinson describes orders for aluminium to use in the war in afghanistan :
cliff is right. i’ve read this elsewhere as well as his source. sir humphry named it “alumium” then “aluminum. ” it was other british that decided to go with “aluminium. ”
j a hopper alfed vice - president. gk systems limited / aluminium finishing association
1937 british industries fair advert for latest developments in aluminium. aluminium and its alloys in all standard forms. alloy forgings. castings and die castings. latest developments with aluminium, including
brytal
reflector process, anodic coatings, free - cutting alloy ba 35, superpurity aluminium. (engineering / metals / quarry, roads and mining / transport section - stand nos. d. 911 and d. 808). [ 5 ]
although recycling aluminium is indeed 95% more efficient than primary production it still takes the same amount of energy as producing new steel [ 31 ] major aluminium producer alcoa sources only 20% of its aluminium from recycling. overall recycling rates are 33% and, according to us aluminium association figures, going down [ 32 ] .
element atomic number 13 has the symbol al and either the name aluminum or aluminium .
aluminium is an' energy bank'. 75% of all the aluminium ever produced is still in use today, having been through countless recycling loops of its lifecycle .
aluminium windows and doors have been in our family since late 1946, when our late grandfather left the british army and started fabricating aluminium and glass in the united kingdom. our family has aged and been in the glazing industry for 3 generations, meaning we take great pride in our work .
aluminum and aluminium are two names for element 13 on the periodic table. in both cases, the element symbol is al, although americans and canadians spell and pronounce the name aluminum, while the british (and most of the rest of the world) use the spelling and pronunciation of aluminium .
british aluminum care about every pane of glass installed into our projects, and give all our clients the same premium service .
anglesey aluminium could not afford to buy power in the uk and reach a breakeven financial position. this is because the worldwide price of aluminium does not include a cost of carbon .
recycling aluminium requires only 5% of the original energy required to produce the primary metal .
alfed website new aluminium federation president elected 14 december 2009. accessed 16 / 04 / 10
the link between aluminium and arms is often hidden by aluminium companies. however an estimated 30% of aluminium is used in the' defence' (arms) industry, making it a' strategic metal' which is stockpiled by most governments. dewey anderson, an ex - congressman published a little known 1951 text' aluminium for defence and prosperity' which describes the necessity of large amounts of aluminium for war and how' more than any other industry, aluminium is dependent on government policies and government actions for more production and consumption'. [ 20 ]
1926 the british and colonial bauxite co was formed and acquired extensive bauxite deposits in the gold coast, ghana, in 1928 .
by 1897 the plant was making one - tenth of the world' s supply of aluminium .
over 50% of aluminium is produced worldwide using clean, renewable, hydro - electric power .
alfed have been running a university competition aimed at student designers and engineers called' the power of aluminium' since 2008, which offers a prize of £1500 for designs using aluminium. [ 25 ]
the current recycling rate for aluminium drinks cans in the uk is 52% (2008 figure) .
anderson, dewey (1951) aluminium for defence and prosperity. washington, us public affairs institute .
1958 british aluminium co ltd was taken over by the two companies, the us reynolds metals and t. i. aluminium. it had a semi - fabricating plant at falkirk [ 8 ]. the company lost its rights to the australian deposits through its failure to exploit them quickly enough, and its partnership with the australian firm comalajo .
' he is becoming a remarkable man of his times. he does so much. i' m not surprised he continues to exceed most people' s expectations of what is possible' - john bridgeman, md of british alcan aluminium .
aluminium has high corrosion resistance and thermal conductivity. aluminium was a mainstream metal in every field either its industry or any other. it doesn’t matter to me how you spell it the advantage will be same .
alfed website, news parliamentary breakfast meeting. tuesday, 23 march 2010. introduction by the aluminium federation immediate past president, mr henry dickinson, managing director, norton aluminium ltd accessed 17 / 05 / 10
alfed website, news parliamentary breakfast meeting. tuesday, 23 march 2010. introduction by the aluminium federation immediate past president, mr henry dickinson, managing director, norton aluminium ltd accessed 17 / 05 / 10
during the first world war bauxite rights were acquired in british guiana. in 1926 the british and colonial bauxite co was formed and acquired extensive bauxite deposits in the gold coast, ghana in 1928. during the second world war communications with the deposits in ghana were greatly improved. british aluminium co ltd commenced production of carbon at greenock, inverclyde, in 1897, at kinlochleven, highland, from 1909 and later at lochaber, highland. rolling mills were situated at milton, cambridgeshire, and warrington, cheshire, in england. it acquired interests in the norwegian aluminium industry and opened a reduction factory at travancore, india in 1943 .
aluminum is the element name used in the united states. aluminium is the preferred spelling elsewhere in the world .
to date, the uk primary aluminium industry has reduced its emissions by 39% , relative to 1990 levels .
2. aluminum = the british pronunciation is a tongue twister. it comes easier after a few tries. but, then you’re in danger of forgetting how to say it in american - english. sounding it out may help, al - loo - min - ee - um … there’s a second “i” in the british form of the word, aluminium, hence the extra syllable. here’s a video to help out .
mr. j. r. park, director of research and development, has been appointed assistant managing director of the british oxygen co. , ltd .
1943 it acquired interests in the norwegian aluminium industry and opened a reduction factory at travancore, india, in 1943 .
the aluminium federation (alfed) is the uk trade association for the aluminium industry, based in west bromwich. it provides technical support and lobbying services in westminster and in brussels on behalf of members ranging from smelting companies, recycling companies and end of line products. [ 1 ] alfed also run the all - party parliamentary group for the uk aluminium industry, which they refer to as' the aluminium federation' s all - party parliamentary group' [ 2 ]
once we work on a project, our british managed installation teams are often considered the most efficient and professional glass sub - contractor the clients have ever worked with .
alcoa’s profits have been hit by a combination of the high cost of producing aluminium and falling prices paid for the metal .
electricity consumption in primary aluminium smelters has been reduced by one - third since the 1950s and by 7% since 1990 .
addressing a select gathering at his residence, h e jamie bowden, the british ambassador to oman, said, “i would like to thank the oman football association (ofa), kickworldwide and three sohar - based companies - vale, orpic and sohar aluminium - for funding this unique project. the programme has already covered thousands of children over the past few weeks and i wish them success. the british embassy is delighted to be one of the sponsors .
the british aluminium co ltd was formed on 7 may 1894, acquiring the british and colonial rights for the bayer and héroult patents for alumina extraction and aluminium reduction. until the end of the 19th century, aluminium was still regarded as a precious metal, due to the difficulties experienced in its extraction. this situation began to change with the discovery of two new processes: one for extracting alumina from the ore (bauxite) and the other for converting alumina into the metal aluminium by electrolysis. the extraction process was perfected by karl joseph bayer of austria between 1887 and 1892, whilst the reduction process was discovered simultaneously by charles martin hall of oberlin, ohio, usa and paul l. t héroult of france, in 1886. the immediate effect of this discovery was a fall in the price of aluminium to about a quarter of its previous price. within a few years the price had further fallen to about a twentieth of the original price .
british aluminum is qatar civil defense approved with all the supporting certificates to manufacture & install the aluprof range of fire resistant windows, doors, curtain walling and automatic doors .
if british scientist sir humphrey davy coined' aluminum', why are the british giving american' s shit for correctly pronouncing the word? i get that us americans have an incredible amount of faults and wrongdoings but pronouncing this word is not one of them, with your discoverer of aluminum as our witness. a - lu - min - um
every kilogram of aluminium used in a car' s manufacture saves 20 kilograms of co2 emissions over a vehicle' s lifetime .
officials from jusoor, a corporate social responsibility organisation, formed jointly by vale, orpic and sohar aluminium, were also present .
the collection is extensive but fragmentary. it does not include the directors minutes of the principal companies nor comprehensive runs of production or financial records. however the collection does contain large quantities of correspondence files, reports, press cuttings, legal records, photographs and artefacts and a wide range of administrative and promotional records. as well as records of the principal companies (british alcan and british aluminium co ltd) the collection includes smaller quantities of records from the following subsidiaries and associates :
“we find it particularly shameful that a british company, bat, is so dominant in commonwealth countries like those in africa, where it has been exposed for its continued use of intimidatory tactics. ironically this is at the same time that the british government has committed £15 million in aid funding to help governments tackle the epidemic and drive down smoking rates. ”
1971 commissioned an aluminium smelter at invergordon, stimulated by government funding [ 12 ]. mid - summer: invergordon reached full production .
the british group plans to modernise the ageing steelworks, together with arrium’s mining and steel distribution businesses, after it collapsed last year following a downturn in steel and iron ore markets .
british american tobacco (bat) has come under fire from health campaigners after shareholders approved its buyout of american firm reynolds on wednesday, which will create the world’s biggest tobacco company .
though it is true that the industry has become more efficient, aluminium is still the most energy intensive metal to produce and overall emissions from the industry have increased dramatically and will continue to do so as demand for aluminium is predicted to double by 2020. [ 12 ]
the legendary nm rothschild merchant bank created the basis of its fortune in a similarly opportunistic way, making itself indispensable to various european governments during the turmoil that culminated in the british victory at waterloo in 1815. the bank' s courier system gave nathan rothschild advance word of that victory, and he used the knowledge to make a huge profit in british government bonds. but he had already made far more from financing napoleon' s return from exile. by the end of the century, rothschild was helping the british government to buy the suez canal .
“aluminium, for so we shall take the liberty of writing the word, in preference to aluminum, which has a less classical sound. ”
das, s. and padel, f. 2010,' out of this earth: east india adivasis and the aluminium cartel' orient blackswan
in 1934, sigmund warburg was one such newcomer, having escaped from nazi germany with just £5, 000. he set up his merchant bank after the second world war but was treated as an upstart until 1959, when he outraged the city establishment by winning the battle for british aluminium on behalf of his us client, reynolds metal .
the british embassy in oman hosted a reception on saturday evening to celebrate the joint venture of the national football body and uk - based kickworldwide in launching a football development programme for schoolchildren in the sultanate .
the overall recycling rate for all aluminium packaging (including drinks cans, foil, foil containers and aerosols) is 36% (2008 figure) .
this figure does not take account of the increase in emissions from primary processing and smelting when substituting aluminium for steel in cars (see above) .
glasgow british alcan archive. howell, gerald (1983b) letter to a. r woodward, g. w budd and l. p matthews. 10th may. ugd 347 21 / 26 / 14 .
british aluminium co or baco of adelaide house, king william street, london, ec4. london warehouse: st. pancras road. also in: birmingham; manchester; leeds; bristol; newcastle - on - tyne; glasgow. telephone: mansion house 5561 and 8074 (6 lines). telegraphic address :
cryolite, bilgate, london
. (1937 )
alfed is funded by member' s subscriptions and commercial activities such as delivering training and support services for members and for the gulf aluminium council. [ 49 ]
until the end of the 19th century, aluminium was still regarded as a precious metal, due to the difficulties experienced in its extraction. this situation began to change with the discovery of two new processes: one for extracting alumina from the ore (bauxite) and the other for converting alumina into the metal aluminium by electrolysis .
on aluminium, i think it doesn’t matter. they’re so close that there’s easy mutual comprehension, and a little bit of variety is nice, isn’t it? !
jon pither 2001, president. also a former managing director of amari plc, and a former director of selection trust plc, and the london metal exchange. a council member of the confederation of british industry. [ 64 ]
email from decc to alfed' aluminium target review meeting minutes, sept 23 2008.' decc, freedom of information response to miriam rose. 15 / 06 / 10
discussions are ongoing with the ec to confirm that aluminium is a sector at risk and that it will receive sufficient free - allowances to continue with production in europe. alfed will continue to work diligently to ensure that climate change legislation is fairly applied and does not create an environment whereby uk aluminium manufacturing is driven offshore by draconian carbon reduction targets .
approximately 30% of aluminium is used for arms manufacture and defense [ 36 ] [ 37 ]. this fact is disguised in industry figures as' transport' or' construction' but is evident in aluminium' s status as a' strategic metal' for the us and uk governments, which is stockpiled for military purposes [ 38 ] .
mr. h. h. cundell has been appointed sales manager of the british aluminium co. , ltd. mr. a. w. langham wm continue to be responsible for the sales planning department. mr. e. e. spitierr has been asipointed development manager in succession to mr. cundell, and mr. p. s. w. swarey succeeds mr. spillett as assistant development manager .
as skyy said (which i didn' t know until i read it): urltoken aluminum (n .) look up aluminum at urltoken 1812, coined by english chemist sir humphry davy (1778 - 1829), from alumina, name given 18c. to aluminum oxide, from latin alumen
alum
( see alum). davy originally called it alumium (1808), then amended this to aluminum, which remains the u. s. word, but british editors in 1812 further amended it to aluminium, the modern preferred british form, to better harmonize with other metallic element names (sodium, potassium, etc .) .
the iupac has determined either spelling is correct and acceptable. however, the accepted spelling in north america is aluminum, while the accepted spelling just about everywhere else is aluminium .
effective lobbying led to business secretary peter mandelson calling rio tinto alcan' s chairman to make an unsuccessful personal plea against the closure of the anglesey aluminium smelter. [ 10 ]
alfed share in the large scale greening campaigns of the international aluminium institute and the european aluminium institute. their website promotes a number of educational and information services to people outside the industry, including' on - line education material for schools' [ 29 ]. they are active in publishing and disseminating figures on the benefits of aluminium, especially in terms of its green credentials. these claims center on the issues of recyclability, energy savings from lighter aluminium cars and planes, it' s use in' eco building' and the carbon efficiency of the refining and smelting processes due to technological advances and use of' renewable energy' for power. some of these claims are examined in more detail in this section :
alcoa, which is the largest aluminium maker in the us, said that it expected the acquisition to contribute $ 1. 6bn in revenue and $ 350m in earnings during 2016 .
although baring is still very much in business, and although a member of the ruling family is currrently the chairman of british petroleum, that south american crisis began a long slow decline, and the company has never fully recovered its former prime status .
by the early 1950s the company was the uk market leader but was frustrated in finding export markets and new bauxite resources. between 1955 and 1957 the company acquired interests in major plants in canada and british guiana (now guyana) and in bauxite deposits in australia but finance problems left it vulnerable and in british aluminium co ltd 1958 was taken over by the two us aluminium companies reynolds and tialuminium. through its failure to exploit them quickly enough the company lost its rights to the australian deposits and its partnership with the australian firm comalajo. in 1961 construction of a new rolling mill was commenced at falkirk, leading to over capacity in the uk. in 1968 the company divested its interests in canada and decided to build a large smelter at invergordon, highland, a decision based on the promise of low - cost electricity from nuclear power. invergordon commenced production in 1971 .
switkes, g. 2005. foiling the aluminium industry: a toolkit for communities, activists, consumers, and workers. international rivers, berkeley, ca. accessed 02 / 04 / 10
been president of the british engineers' association, and chairman of the northwestern section of the institution of mechanical engineers, and of the liverpool and manchester branch of the institute of transport. he was deputy controller - general of machine tools in 1943 - 44 .
alfed are also lobbying the eu and ec on changes to the eu emissions trading scheme which will for the first time include primary and secondary aluminium smelters in its scope. their annual report states :
the racing yacht ranger, successfully defending the america' s cup against a british challenger, is a radical departure from typical heavy - displacement yacht design. key to its speed is the world' s first mast, boom, and spinnaker pole made entirely of alcoa aluminum .
in a parliamentary debate in february 2010 mp philip dunne, a member of the alfed' s all - party parliamentary group for the uk aluminium industry, noted that' the government tried to put in place a rescue package worth some £12 million a year for four years to subsidise energy costs' at the now - closed anglesey aluminium smelter, claiming that this massive package had nonetheless failed. he quotes david bloor, managing director of anglesey aluminium who had' explained to members at a presentation in december' how carbon targets under the eu emissions trading scheme were driving the industry out of the uk; [ 7 ]
7. water = bbc america’s mind the gap polled our expat readers and a lot chimed in saying “water” is really hard for americans to understand when said in a british accent. they don’t even know why! it comes across as “wah - ta” vs. our “wodder. ”
as well as recycling aluminium using the same energy as producing new steel, the primary smelting process is one of the most energy intensive and polluting industrial processes on earth, earning aluminium the title' solid electricity' in the industry [ 34 ]. an estimated 5 billion tonnes of bauxite have so far been mined from the earth, creating just less than a billion tonnes of aluminium. if we use al fed' s figures that 75% are still in use that suggests that around 200, 000, 000, 000 tonnes (200 thousand million tonnes) are currently in landfill and could theoretically be mined and recycled. [ 35 ]
though considerable technological advances have been made aluminium remains a much more carbon intensive metal than other metals, for example steel. aluminium production accounts for ca. 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, producing 13. 1 tons of co2 equivalent per ton of aluminium [ 40 ]. technological advances have led to 20 - 25% emissions savings in the smelting process in recent decades but overall emissions are increasing and there is no concrete intention to reduce them. in fact, alcoa predicts a 20% increase of co2e emitted per year from ca. 335 million tonnes of co2e in 2000 to ca. 400 million tonnes in 2020 [ 41 ] .
the total output of aluminium during 1937 had constituted a record. the extensions to which he had referred a year ago had made good progress during the year; so much so that he was pleased to be able to report that the first half of the additional aluminium producing plant at lochaber had been put into com - mission earlier this month, and the balance they hoped to have in production before the middle of the present year .
aluminum
would later be accepted as the official spelling by the american chemical society, and though the international union of pure and applied chemistry officially recognizes
aluminium
, its american counterpart is accepted as an alternative .
one such word is
aluminium
, the pronunciation of which has left a number of my american friends bewildered on the spot, since the standard american equivalent famously drops the final
i
to spell out
aluminum .
file photo: the gfg alliance flag flies at the completion of a 330 million pound deal to buy britain' s last remaining aluminium smelter in fort william lochaber scotland, britain december 19, 2016. reuters / russell cheyne - rtx2vn2r
it all began, apparently, when an indecisive british chemist by the name of sir humphrey davy in fact coined the now archaic word
alumium
in 1808. however, referring to the element in his 1812 book elements of chemical philosophy, he would use the word
aluminum
, much as americans do today .
1993: chairman, 3i he is also a director of northern rock, taylor woodrow, and the northern development board. he is an honorary fellow of the royal institute of british architects, a fellow of the royal society of arts, a companion of the institute of management, and fellow of the institute of directors .
sir humphry made a bit of a mess of naming this new element, at first spelling it alumium (this was in 1807) then changing it to aluminum, and finally settling on aluminium in 1812. his classically educated scientific colleagues preferred aluminium right from the start, because it had more of a classical ring, and chimed harmoniously with many other elements whose names ended in –ium, like potassium, sodium, and magnesium, all of which had been named by davy .
sir humphry made a bit of a mess of naming this new element, at first spelling it alumium (this was in 1807) then changing it to aluminum, and finally settling on aluminium in 1812. his classically educated scientific colleagues preferred aluminium right from the start, because it had more of a classical ring, and chimed harmoniously with many other elements whose names ended in - ium, like potassium, sodium, and magnesium, all of which had been named by davy .
alfed have sponsored an exhibition called the ‘challenge of materials’ gallery at the science museum in london since 1997, which contains information on aluminium supplied by alfed. in march 2009 alfed’s public affairs committee held a meeting there. in june alfed' s chief executive will savage and public affairs exec discussed upping the aluminium based content in the birmingham science museum and millenium point, aiming to access' families enjoying a day out together and school children studying science through the national curriculum'. [ 24 ]
alfed has lobbied hard against the reduction of rebates from the climate change levy to energy intensive industries from 80% to 65% , which will come into effect in 2011. they argue that the aluminium industry has already reduced emissions by 39% since 1990 .
alfed and the european aluminium association held a joint exhibition from 10 - 14 november 2008 in the upper waiting hall of the house of commons. the guest of honour at its opening was minister of state for wales, the paul murphy mp. [ 27 ]
alfed also holds an annual parliamentary lunch which' attracted a record attendance from members of both houses in may 2009' and was hosted by baroness gardner of parkes, vice chair of alfed' s all - party parliamentary group for the uk aluminium industry. [ 28 ]
any time, molly. it' s interesting: the more i look into certain american english words - such as
soccer
,
aluminum
,
candy
etc - the more words i find that originated in british english. i hope that by compiling a number of posts on the matter, i will be able to settle arguments rather more quickly. lol .
sir humphry davy proposed the name aluminum when referring to the element in his 1812 book elements of chemical philosophy, even though he had used the name alumium for the element (1808). despite davy' s two names, the official name
aluminium
was adopted to conform with the - ium names of most other elements. the 1828 webster' s dictionary used the
aluminum
spelling, which it maintained in later editions. in 1925, the american chemical society (acs) decided to go from aluminium back to the original aluminum, putting the united states in the
aluminum
group. in recent years, the iupac had identified
aluminium
as the proper spelling, but it didn' t catch on in north america, since the acs used aluminum. the iupac periodic table presently lists both spellings and says both words are perfectly acceptable .
the aluminium industry has historically been linked to the hydro power industry due to the large, cheap and continuous supply of energy needed to refine and smelt aluminium. due to the low economic return per energy unit, smelting is increasingly geared towards countries developing with low energy and labour costs, and large and powerful rivers which are less politically sensitive to dam than in the western world [ 43 ]. hydro power, and particularly the mega hydro projects common for aluminium smelting, have considerable ecological consequences which are particularly well detailed in patrick mccully' s book' silenced rivers: the ecology and politics of large dams' [ 44 ] these include greenhouse gas emissions from rotting organic matter in reservoirs which are in some cases much higher than for an equivalent gas fired power station [ 45 ]. these greenhouse gas emissions and other indirect emissions from hydro are not included in industry audits .
actually, neither version was often encountered early on: up to about 1855 it had only ever been made in pinhead quantities because it was so hard to extract from its ores; a new french process that involved liquid sodium improved on that to the extent that emperor napoleon iii had some aluminium cutlery made for state banquets, but it still cost much more than gold. when the statue of eros in piccadilly circus in london was cast from aluminium in 1893 it was still an exotic and expensive choice. this changed only when a way of extracting the metal using cheap hydroelectricity was developed .
thanks for this article, it' s cool to know the history behind this! it reminds me of when i was doing my college study abroad in london (londinium). i was at the library avoiding doing my actual homework. there was some computer game that tested you on the abbreviations for the elements. when i got up to al, it kept marking my answer aluminum as incorrect. after about 5 tries and a bit of swearing i finally looked the word up and realized that it is spelled aluminium in the uk! ! (red face) which brings me to my question. as a brit in the usa, how do you feel about converting to our spellings? obviously, not for this type of blog, but for general writing. i have two minds about this. on the one hand, it would seem a bit rude to tell a british person that they are spelling their words incorrectly when they are living in america. however, as in my anecdote above, i would definitely be compelled to convert my american spellings to british ones if i were back in blighty .
in london, nicandro durante, the bat chief executive, welcomed the “overwhelming support” for the acquisition from both sets of shareholders. he added: “we look forward to welcoming reynolds group employees to british american tobacco and to realising the benefits of operating these two great companies as one stronger, global tobacco and next generation products business with direct access for our products across the most attractive markets in the world. ”
the reason why there were two ways of saying the element aluminum / aluminium has always been one of the those things that made me go “hmmm” but by the same token, it’s also always been one of those things that never stuck around in my consciousness long enough for me to look it up .
the metal was named by the english chemist sir humphry davy (who, you may recall, “abominated gravy, and lived in the odium of having discovered sodium”), even though he was unable to isolate it: that took another two decades’ work by others. he derived the name from the mineral called alumina, which itself had only been named in english by the chemist joseph black in 1790. black took it from the french, who had based it on alum, a white mineral that had been used since ancient times for dyeing and tanning, among other things. chemically, this is potassium aluminium sulphate (a name which gives me two further opportunities to parade my british spellings of chemical names) .
british prescriptivists - that is, brits who do not welcome change to the language - would tell you that the u. s. respelling owes much to
american arrogance
; that it is just another example of
the yanks needlessly simplifying the language
. however, just a cursory amount of research into the matter will tell even the most ardent linguistic conservative that the matter is not quite that simple .
jaap krater and miriam rose,' development of iceland’s geothermal energy potential for aluminium production– a critical analysis', in: abrahamsky, k. (ed) (2009). sparking a world - wide energy revolution: social struggles in the transition to a post - petrol world. ak press, edinburgh .
this is not a pronunciation difference - it' s a spelling difference. brits spell it aluminium and (correctly) pronounce it that way, whereas americans spell it aluminum and pronounce it (also correctly) the way they spellit. a pronunciation difference would be the way we pronounce, for instance, tomato - same spelling but different pronunciation
on february 2nd 2010 philip dunne and albert owen of alfed' s all - party parliamentary group for the uk aluminium industry raised this issue in a house of commons debate (see philip dunne for more). two days later an alfed delegation met the uk business, innovation and skills minister pat mcfadden to discuss this issue and others affecting the industry. [ 11 ]
another member of the alfed' s all party parliamentary group albert owen has supported the heavy subsidisation of the price of electricity to the anglesey aluminium smelter, which was affected in january 2009 by eu legislation banning state subsidisation of private companies. he supported a £48 million package to save the smelter, which closed in sept 09 after the proposal was turned down. [ 9 ]
can you do a post on just what it makes british so haughty that they always assume that the variance in language is american laziness. i am an american living in london for 8 years now, and my children even get this crap from their teachers and peers at school. language is living, end of story. and as you point out, many of the variances in american english are actually more english than current english versions. so what the heck? why so snobbish? can you address that for me please? i' m very tired of it .
in 2000 the alfed submitted a joint proposal on the proposed climate change levy to the government with the chemical industries association, the british ceramics federation, the paper federation of great britain, the food & drink federation, and the non - ferrous alliance calling. the proposal suggested that energy intensive industries should be given some exemption and trusted instead to work together to
promote an energy - efficient culture
and learn from each other' s best practice. [ 17 ]. their lobbying was successful and led to the 80% rebate on the levy which they achieved .
today ignoramuses having been asleep at' hell - eh - que - shion' classes but trying to sound posh pronounce' aluminium' as al - you - minium... dead wrong from the brit and the american pronunciation! the material that sir humphry davy found to contain the metal was a substance used in dyeing and as a styptic for wounds called alum - with the' lum' as in' lump' .
my son sent me the link to your post after i wrote a facebook post about the way the americans pronounce the word buoy as' boo - ee' not' boy' as we brits do... yet they say' buoyant' and' buoyancy' in the same way as us! strange but true! love the explanation about aluminium / aluminum. two nations divided by a common language - as churchill said .
i have heard this explanation or theory before, that in fact, some of the words we are accused of pronouncing incorrectly are indeed being said correctly by most americans and it was the british who changed the pronunciation somewhere down the line. nice to have someone pointing this out. just because we' re different doesn' t necessary mean we are wrong! a great book on the history of the english language is called the story of english by urltoken interesting, i recently found a show by the same name. it talks a bit about how our accents have changed as well. urltoken
i' ve come to this a bit late... sorry... my understanding is that' ium' is applied to some / all metals / elements (where relevant) in the periodic table, e. g. chromium, potassium, radium etc. not a very good explanation, but i' m sure you get it. anyway, aluminium is one of these, therefore it is suffixed' ium' .
just as the author feels that aluminum sounds like star trek reference, i (an american who has spent time in both the uk and australia), has always thought aluminium sounded like an ancient roman city, with brave aluminian warriors facing off against the spartans or the gauls. none the less, i love the differences in our common language, though i realize that at time it can be confusing, especially for non - native speakers .
1887 the extraction process was perfected by karl joseph bayer of austria between 1887 and 1892, whilst the reduction process was discovered simultaneously by charles martin hall of oberlin, ohio, usa and paul louis toussaint héroult of france, in 1886. the immediate effect of this discovery was a fall in the price of aluminium to about a quarter of its previous price. within a few years the price had further fallen to about a twentieth of the original price .
people always seem to seek out something to debate. i personally enjoy learning the differences in american and british english. this is especially true for colloquial conversation. i' ll never forget being on an elevator (lift) in the west mids and being asked ,
that' s your tea ?
i thought he was referring to my wine, and responded ,
no. wine .
he had, in fact, been referring to my pizza .
oh, so the pizza is just for show then .
i was mortified that i forgot tea was dinner. that will never happen again .
people will find anything they can debate and disagree on. i personally enjoy learning the difference between the american and british english dialects. this is especially true for colloquial conversation. i will never forget stepping on an elevator (lift) in the west mids, and being asked ,
that' s your tea ?
i responded ,
no. wine ,
forgetting that tea was dinner and he was referring to my pizza .
oh, ha, the pizza is just for show then .
i was mortified then, but now i have a laugh every time i think about it. i enjoy our differences .
3. privacy = in the u. k. it’s sort of like privy, as in “you’re not privy to this conversation. ” the word is pronounced priv - a - see, “priv” rhymes with the verb “live. ” 4. schedule = this is a tricky one. somehow, in the u. k. , the word begins with a shh and the “c” disappears, here it is sounded out, shed - ual. in a study by the british library, interim results suggest a third of britons taking part now adopt the american - style “sked - ual. ” maybe they’re tired of getting “huh” looks ?
mr. r. w. cooper, m. c. (the chairman), who presided, said that the profit for 1937 had amounted to £773, 432, which was an increase of £176, 252 over the profit realised in 1936. they had commenced the year with a satisfactory order book and the demand for their products was well maintained throughout the year, resulting in their having marketed a considerably increased tonnage of aluminium—in fact, the largest in the history of the company .
sorry but when the article states
that we came to the realization that the two pronunciations both meant the same thing: a non - soluble chemical element with the internationally recognized periodic symbol al
its wrong. the american spelling actually refers to a different type of metal which is either an alloy or compound of aluminium i cannot remember which. the americans may not mean to refer to this but they are. i do not wish to offend anyone with this comment so i apologize if i have caused offence .
it doesn' t matter if the guy who came up with this word first spelled it as aluminum, it' s etymologically wrong, the suffix
- ium
comes from latin and is the correct spelling for chemical elements. if grammatical mistakes can be considered correct just because prople started using it, then now i' ll call aluminium
blosherk
and everyone will have to accept it. the body of my phone that i' m using to write this, is made of blosherk by the way .
1895 the electrolytic process depended upon the availability of vast supplies of cheaply produced electricity, and the highlands of scotland offered potential for this, in the form of hydro - electric power. the first aluminium ingots were produced at foyers, highland, in 1895, and the first hydro - electric powered smelter was opened at foyers, highland, in 1896, followed by two further smelters at kinlochleven, highland, (1909) and lochaber, highland, (1929), with subsidiary companies being formed for the development of each .
devising a new, inexpensive method for producing the metal in 1892, american chemist charles martin hall opted to incorporate the
aluminum
variant - which had gained popularity following its inclusion in the 1828 webster' s dictionary - on his advertising literature, despite having used
aluminium
on all of his patents. it could be argued, then, that
aluminum
in fact remained in the american vernacular quite by accident, if it is to be believed that the variant used in his advertising materials was nothing more than a typo .
1982 march: baco announced massive losses this month. baco 58% owned by ti which also lost heavily overall in 1981, crashed from a £12. 1 million 1980 profit to a pre - tax loss of £22. 3 million. however the invergordon closure turned baco into a net purchaser of aluminium even though it has two other uk smelters. the company continues to invest in downstream operations. the final stage of a £1 million programme at heavy duty alloy extrusions in workington saw a new furnace complex replacing three old others. [ 14 ]
it’s clear that the shift in the usa from –ium to –um took place progressively over a period starting in about 1895, when the metal began to be widely available and the word started to be needed in popular writing. it is easy to imagine journalists turning for confirmation to webster’s dictionary, still the most influential work at that time, and adopting its spelling. the official change in the us to the –um spelling happened quite late: the american chemical society only adopted it in 1925, though this was clearly in response to the popular shift that had already taken place. the international union of pure and applied chemistry (iupac) officially standardised on aluminium in 1990, though this has done nothing, of course, to change the way people in the us spell it for day to day purposes .
it’s clear that the shift in the usa from - ium to - um took place progressively over a period starting in about 1895, when the metal began to be widely available and the word started to be needed in popular writing. it is easy to imagine journalists turning for confirmation to webster’s dictionary, still the most influential work at that time, and adopting its spelling. the official change in the us to the - um spelling happened quite late: the american chemical society only adopted it in 1925, though this was clearly in response to the popular shift that had already taken place. the international union of pure and applied chemistry (iupac) officially standardised on aluminium in 1990, though this has done nothing, of course, to change the way people in the us spell it for day to day purposes .
still confused? here' s a little more about the history of aluminum' s naming and discovery. guyton de morveau (1761) called alum, a base which had been known to the ancient greeks and romans, by the name alumine. in 1808, humphry davy identified the existence of the metal in alum, which he at first named alumium and later aluminum. davy knew aluminum existed, but he didn' t isolate the element. friedrich wöhler isolated aluminum in 1827 by mixing anhydrous aluminium chloride with potassium. actually, though, the metal was produced two years earlier, though in impure form, by the danish physicist and chemist hans christian ørsted. depending on your source, the discovery of aluminum is credited to either ørsted or wöhler. the person who discovers an element gets the privilege of naming it, yet the identity of the discoverer is as disputed as the name!
british aluminium was an aluminium production company . it was originally formed as the british aluminium company ltd on 7 may 1894 and was subsequently known as british alcan aluminium plc ( 1982-1996 ) . 
british aluminium was an aluminium production company. it was originally formed as the british aluminium company ltd on 7 may 1894 and was subsequently known as british alcan aluminium plc (1982-1996).
british aluminium was an aluminium production company. it was originally formed as the british aluminium company ltd on 7 may 1894 and was subsequently known as british alcan aluminium plc (1982-1996).