Aluminium was once a precious metal more valuable than gold.
The top of the Washington monument is aluminium purchased during those days, and Napoleon had a set of aluminium plates that was reserved for his most distinguished guests.
At that time, if you said "Aluminium is worthless, it's just shiny" then probably the same people would have agreed, but what happened later was the bauxite process for aluminium extraction made it possible for aluminium to be produced at prices far lower than before, and in massive quantities.
Now, it's true that Aluminium was no longer a precious metal more valuable than gold, but rather than prove worthless, in many ways it was only once it was inexpensively available at industrial volumes that its true worth as a light, easy to machine and cast, highly corrosion resistant material became apparent and it was used in everything from drink containers to vehicles.
So gold is valuable because it's rare, but it would arguably be worth way more as a highly maleable, highly corrosion resistant metal available at industrial quantities.
Ok, I'm done my rant that probably doesn't really have much with the conversation.
The top of the Washington monument is aluminium purchased during those days, and Napoleon had a set of aluminium plates that was reserved for his most distinguished guests.
At that time, if you said "Aluminium is worthless, it's just shiny" then probably the same people would have agreed, but what happened later was the bauxite process for aluminium extraction made it possible for aluminium to be produced at prices far lower than before, and in massive quantities.
Now, it's true that Aluminium was no longer a precious metal more valuable than gold, but rather than prove worthless, in many ways it was only once it was inexpensively available at industrial volumes that its true worth as a light, easy to machine and cast, highly corrosion resistant material became apparent and it was used in everything from drink containers to vehicles.
So gold is valuable because it's rare, but it would arguably be worth way more as a highly maleable, highly corrosion resistant metal available at industrial quantities.
Ok, I'm done my rant that probably doesn't really have much with the conversation.
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