The Case of the Precious Pop Can

Inspector Hale opens The Disappearing Spoon, by Sam Kean, at chapter thirteen: in 1884 six pounds of aluminium cap the Washington Monument, and an ounce of shavings was a day's wages. The Bubble: eight percent of the crust, never found pure, dearer than gold; Napoleon's best guests ate with aluminium. Nightjar: Hall, twenty-three, a battery, 1886. Wren: $550 a pound, then 25 cents. Nightjar: scarcity was the process, not the metal. Wren: the cap's still there; Hall died worth $30 million in Alcoa shares.

In chapter thirteen of The Disappearing Spoon, aluminium is the dearest metal on earth in 1884, when a six-pound pyramid of it caps the Washington Monument and an ounce of shavings would pay a labourer's day, because although it is about 8 percent of the crust it never appears pure; in 1886 Charles Hall, aged 23, frees it with an electric current, the price falls from $550 a pound to 25 cents, and Hall dies in 1914 with $30 million of Alcoa shares: the scarcity was in the process, not the metal.

On the book: The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean

Starring

Inspector HaleWrenThe BubbleNightjar