Aluminium is a silvery white and ductile member of the poor metal group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al; its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstance.
Ancient Greeks and Romans used aluminium salts as dyeing mordants and as astringents for dressing wounds; alum is still used as a styptic. As the metal had first been produced in 1825 (in an impure form) by Danish physicist and chemist Hans Christian Ørsted, Ørsted can also be listed as its discoverer.
