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Description
Discover the time when aluminum was a metal for emperors, worth more than gold, before science made it cheap. "The Clay Silver - When a soda can was worth more than gold" tells the fascinating micro-history of aluminum. Today, we use it for disposable foil and cans, but in the 19th century, it was the most precious metal on earth. Napoleon III famously served his most honored guests on aluminum plates, while the lesser nobility had to eat off mere gold.Historian Arthur C. Wells explores why this metal, despite being the most abundant in the earth's crust, was so difficult to extract that it remained a luxury for decades. The book chronicles the simultaneous discovery of the electrolytic process by Charles Hall and Paul Héroult that crashed the price of aluminum overnight, turning a royal treasure into a building material."The Clay Silver" is a story of how technology alters value. It illustrates the arbitrary nature of "preciousness" and how scientific innovation can democratize luxury, changing the material fabric of the modern world.
