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Charles Hall and Paul Heroult separately dissolved alumina in molten cryolite and passed current through it in 1886. The figure is taken from Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

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Yes. It sits on the Technology shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

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Aluminium became cheap through electrolysis

Charles Hall and Paul Heroult separately dissolved alumina in molten cryolite and passed current through it in 1886 Before their work aluminium was a semi precious metal, because sodium reduction was slow and expensive. Running a current through alumina dissolved in cryolite at about 960 degrees Celsius deposits molten aluminium at the cathode. The process needs enormous amounts of electricity, which is why smelters cluster near cheap hydroelectric power. It sits in Mondo's technology collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Britannica

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Tags: materials, aluminium, electrolysis

Aluminium became cheap through electrolysis: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Charles Hall and Paul Heroult separately dissolved alumina in molten cryolite and passed current through it in 1886. The figure is taken from Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a technology fact?: Yes. It sits on the Technology shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.