In chemistry we trust!

Today in my economics class, my teacher showed us this video on domestic production in the United States. One of the professions was scrap metal production. For a long period of time, the U.S. was the leading producer of steel in the world during the 19th and 20th century. This could be much entitled to a man known as Andrew Carnegie who revolutionized America's manufacturing industry. Though our nation was at the top of the world in steel production, for a long period of time this industry basically disappeared in the U.S. Now the scrap metal industry is making a comeback in the U.S. because of chemistry! This is fully credited to the use of an electric arc furnace. This furnace uses electrodes to produce heat around 3000 degrees Fahrenheit. While other furnaces rely on burning gas, the use of electrodes with this furnace is much more consistent and efficient in production explaining the rise in success for the U.S. steel production industry. Then I wondered about the chemistry behind electrodes. Electricity is produced by creating electrical currents between positively charged anode cells and negatively charged cathode cells. Though the movement of these currents is erratic at first, this flame stabilizes eventually producing the immense heat needed for this production. Electrons leave the cathode and travels to the anode. This produces the flame depicted in the image below. 

Read more in these articles: 

http://www.steel.org/en/Making%20Steel/How%20Its%20Made/Processes/Processes%20Info/Electric%20Arc%20Furnace%20Steelmaking.aspx

http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-an-electrode.htm

I found this article so interesting because it is the story of chemistry helping rescue the United States economy! The amount of energy of 3000 degrees Fahrenheit which can be produced from this electrode furnace is astonishing. For me, this production of energy draws parallels to scientist JJ Thomson's experiment in which he discovered electrons. It is incredible how this movement of electrons between two charged terminals can great such an immense amount of heat. Thus when people ask why to study chemistry, it's because of reasons like this. For in this case, chemistry gave jobs to thousands of unemployed citizens in the U.S. and is revolutionizing the manufacturing industry.