20 Steel Facts
20 facts about steel brought to you by the steel experts at Steel Supply, L.P.
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Nearly 80% of steel is recycled in North America each year. That’s more material by weight than paper, aluminum, plastic, and glass combined!
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The typical computer is about 25% steel.
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The first major mass demand for steel came from railroad companies. Steel was first used in mass production to construct railroad tracks.
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The Eiffel Tower is about 6 inches taller in the summer than in the winter due to the expansion of steel and iron with temperature fluctuation.
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New technology in steel makes it possible to build a high rise building with at least 3% less steel than 20 years ago.
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Steel products can be recycled over and over without a loss of strength.
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The word “steel” derives from the Proto-Germanic word “stahlija” meaning “standing firm”.
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The Golden Gate Bridge used 83,000 tons of steel – that is 4,000 full truckloads! Using newer alloys, it could be built with half that much steel today.
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95% of all metal used in a year is steel
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5% of the Earth’s crust is iron, so there is no need to worry over a looming “steel crisis”.
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Right now, the US is the world’s 3rd largest steel producer, behind China and Japan.
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The earliest known production of steel are pieces of ironware excavated from an archaeological site in Turkey and are nearly 4,000 years old.
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Steel bridges are 1/4 to 1/8 the weight of an equivalent concrete bridge.
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Today’s steel parts are up to 30% stronger and more dent-resistant than those of a decade ago.
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Over half the types of steel in a car today did not even exist 10 years ago.
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A typical 2,000 square foot home can be framed from just 4 recycled cars versus 40 trees to build the same wood framed house.
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Since 1972, the amount of energy to produce a ton of steel has been reduced by 34%.
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Steel was first used in skyscrapers in 1884 with the Home Insurance Building in Chicago.
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Steel is 1,000 times as strong as pure iron.
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At Steel Supply, L.P., we know steel!