Aluminum is found in varying amounts in nature as aluminosilicates (contains aluminum, silicon, and oxygen) in various types of clay. It is too high in the electrochemical series (reactivity series) to extract it from its ore using carbon reduction. The temperatures needed are too high to be economic. Together with steel, aluminium is a common metal in the UK and is produced and exist in large quantities. Its uses and usefulness were discovered thousands of years ago. Longevity, malleability, strength and conductivity -the properties have been used over the ages to provide us with the many goods we see today. Aluminium can be present naturally in food and it is sometimes added during processing. But aluminium can also pass into food from cookware and packaging. After beginning the 20th century as a precious metal, aluminium became a popular material in mass-manufacturing. Light, easily sculpted and durable, it is now used in advanced engineering as the bodywork for jets and sports cars.