Doesn’t aluminium already float on water? We can’t blame you if you thought it did because aluminium is indeed a light-weight metal. However, conventional aluminium's density is 2.7gm per cubic cm. In order for something to float on water, this number has to be lesser than 1 (gm per cubic cm). Scientists have designed an ultra-light form of aluminium, paving the way for novel uses of the material in future spacecraft and automobiles. Researchers from Utah State University (USU) have restructured the common household metal at the molecular level to design a form lighter than water! Like most common metals, aluminium lacks natural buoyancy. However, with a little rearranging of the metal’s natural molecular structure, one can produce an ultra-light crystalline form of the metal that is actually less dense than water. Schematic depiction of a supertetrahedral aluminium crystal structure. The research team constituting USU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry profes...
There's much more to the mere word 'Aluminium'. It has been called The Metal of The Future, a metal which finds its place in every aspect of the world we are building today. Take a peek into the of Aluminium, every day, enriching a billion lives.