Papers Blast furnaces (BBC News) "Up to 1709, furnaces could only use charcoal to produce iron. However wood was becoming expensive as the forests were being cleared for farmland and timber. Although cheap and plentiful, coal wasn't a feasible fuel because it contained sulphur that made the iron too brittle to be of any use. However in 1709, Abraham Darby finally succeeded in smelting iron with coke, and bought his workers beer to celebrate." 9-05 Chemistry of Making Iron (SchoolScience) "The hot air blast to the furnace burns the coke and maintains the very high temperatures that are needed to reduce the ore to iron. The reaction between air and the fuel generates carbon monoxide. This gas reduces the iron (III) oxide in the ore to iron." 9-05 How Iron and Steel Work (HowStuffWorks.com) "When you compare iron and steel with something like aluminum, you can see why it was so important historically. To refine aluminum, you must have access to huge amounts of electricity. To shape aluminum, you must either cast it or extrude it. Iron is much easier to deal with. Iron has been useful to man for thousands of years, while aluminum really did not exist in any meaningful way until the 20th century." 9-05

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