Cody Reeder (“Cody’sLab”) successfully mining a gram or so of #aluminum from aluminum silicate clay: he pulverizes by beating on a plastic bag, allows a water slurry to settle to separate out the clay, adds hydrochloric acid to solubilize the aluminum as aluminum chloride, allows the silicates to settle, neutralizes the liquor from the top using sodium hydroxide drain cleaner to get insoluble aluminum hydroxide, washes it to remove iron hydroxides, calcines it at 1000° to get alumina, dissolves it in a graphite crucible in store-bought cryolite, electrolyzes the solution with a plug-in 200-amp car starter connected to a preheated carbon electrode, and then breaks up the hardened poured mass to find native aluminum particles, in the Utah snow. #materials #materials #video