<AREA SHAPE=RECT COORDS="4,206,19,221" HREF="!The furnace, with its roof swung aside, is charged with scrap. Steelmakers rarely use pig iron in an electric arc furnace but may use directly reduced iron if it is available at low cost.">
<AREA SHAPE=RECT COORDS="328,207,342,220" HREF="!A powerful electric current arcs (jumps) between the electrodes and the charge. This action produces intense heat, which melts the charge and promotes chemical reactions that produce steel.">
These diagrams show steel being made in an electric arc furnace, the most widely used type of electric steelmaking furnace. The roof of an electric arc furnace has holes through which three carbon rods called <I>electrodes</I> are inserted to conduct electricity to the charge.<NP>
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World Book illustrations by Oxford Illustrators Limited</P>
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