As iron, unlike gold isn’t a noble metal, an important aspect is, you need carbon to make pure iron from the iron oxides in the iron ore: The carbon will react with the oxygen and pureelementary iron and carbon oxides are left.
Essentially, you reduce the carbon content of the raw iron by blowing in oxygen until you have the desired amount of carbon left. I should have written ‘elementary’ iron instead of pure.
As iron, unlike gold isn’t a noble metal, an important aspect is, you need carbon to make
pureiron from the iron oxides in the iron ore: The carbon will react with the oxygen andpureelementary iron and carbon oxides are left.Pure iron is somewhat soft. To make steel, you typically add extra carbon to the iron, which results in a harder (though more brittle) metal.
Essentially, you reduce the carbon content of the raw iron by blowing in oxygen until you have the desired amount of carbon left. I should have written ‘elementary’ iron instead of pure.