ILS-Einsendeaufgabe TecE 1-XX02-A11

Iron and Steel
Of all the metallic elements, iron is the most important. It is abundant, easy to extract from its ores, and can readily be made into our main constructional material, steel. No metal is used as much as steel. Current world production of steel is about 600 million tonnes a year. This compares with only about 10 million tonnes of aluminium, the next most widely used metal.
Metallic iron itself is a greyish-white metal that is highly ductile and malleable, and therefore easy to shape. It is magnetic; most magnets contain iron, along with other magnetic elements like nickel and cobalt. By itself, iron is neither hard nor particularly strong. But with the addition of a little carbon it becomes steel. This is where its great advantage lies.