Talk:Aluminium oxide

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Organize page

Thie page is in need of some organization, even if its a short article. I put the industrial fabrication stuff on the bottom with a header. Fresheneesz 02:08, 25 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Break down

Does anyone know how to break this stuff down without using a thermic lance?

Health risks

Im curious as to the health risk with aluminum oxide. We probably all have heard the stories about aluminium pans and rhubarb. I saw a mention that aluminium pans havent been confirmed as a health risk at all in the Al. page.

Actually I hadn't heard about the Al pans and the rhubarb. According to this material safety data sheet, no adverse health effects are known due to injestion of aluminium oxide. According to this public health guidance note, the only known adverse health effects are at the extreme dosage rate of 30mg intravenously, three times per week. There is a reference made to a "controversy" involving dementia -- are these the stories to which you refer? -- Tim Starling 11:55, Nov 3, 2003 (UTC)

Well, seems the story is common here in Sweden atleast: The acidy-ness of rhubarbs makes the oxide give away from the pan and get eaten ("Have you noticed just how _clean_ the aluminium gets when youve made rhubarb pie?"), and everyone Ive heard this from says it very toxic. I even had a chemistyr teacher in highschool tell us about this in a very serious tone for like ten minutes. -- sandos

Sounds like rubbish to me. There's some interesting information about this at [1] -- it just goes to show how people are prepared to ignore scientific evidence and take notice of every specious rumour, even to the point of pressing the authorities for a ban. -- Tim Starling 07:07, May 29, 2005 (UTC)

Inhaling fine dusts of aluminium oxide would probably cause repiratory problems, and maybe even diseases similar to silicosis. Otherwise, the oxide is very unreactive and difficult to transform into soluble aluminium salts (for which there is some concern on the health effects, but controversial). Physchim62 12:13, 26 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I have not heard of any health problems associated with Aluminium Oxide, unless you ingest large quantities of the stuff anyway. I beleive that some of the scare stories about Al²O³ stem from the research done into the connection between Aluminium and certain brain deseases, such as Parkinsons. As far as I am aware the body is unable to break down Al²O³ into Aluminium and Oxygen, and as such I would think that the risk from using Aluminium pans and other coooking utensils would be minimal at worst and not worthy of mention at best. Regarding the cooking of Rhubarb, I think the effect seen is not the sloughing off of an Al²O³ layer, so leaving the pan clean, but more the acid preventing food particles from bonding to the pan surface in the first place.

When was Alumina first discovered?

When was aluminium oxide first dicovered or firs made, i just need to know dates and names! pls...

Merge suggestion

No! This is a chemistry article about the chemical, corundum is a mineralogy article about the naturally occurring mineral. Vsmith 15:32, 8 January 2006 (UTC) Oppose merger I agree with the above poster. Would an article about diamond or charcoal be merged with an article about carbon?--24.217.183.224 08:21, 9 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]