Why So Much Technical Illiteracy? (Among politicians and journalists)
Inspired by Port Talbot and Scunthorpe Steelworks; but with parallels in many other fields.
Politicians of all parties and systems are supposed to make policies. Journalists are supposed to inform us of those policies, and explain where necessary.
I do not expect Degree-level expositions, but the discussion and coverages of the fate of the iron and steel industry in the UK showed desperate lack of understanding by both sets of people. No wonder they struggle with any problems related to science and engineering.
I have never worked in a steelworks, coal-mine or ironstone quarry but even I know...
- The difference between Iron and Steel.
- That a blast-furnace does not make steel. It makes raw iron from its ore.
- That a blast-furnace is not fuelled with coal. It uses coke (distilled coal) as both fuel and reducing-agent. Plus limestone as a flux.
- That Electric-Arc and other furnace types refine raw iron and recover scrap iron and steel. Not ore-smelting*.
- The three primary products from the raw "pig iron" from the blast-furnace: pure iron for electrical equipment, cast-iron for machine parts, pure iron as the base ingredient of the huge range of steels .
Where did I learn these? Initially, in school science and geography lessons!
Come on, policy-makers and reporters, do some learning!
......
* At present. Arc-furnaces were used for iron-smelting in Sweden, Germany and America a hundred years ago. They still need a reducing-agent which I think could now be hydrogen. They do of course require vast amounts of electricity and a steady supply of the consumable electrodes.
Politicians of all parties and systems are supposed to make policies. Journalists are supposed to inform us of those policies, and explain where necessary.
I do not expect Degree-level expositions, but the discussion and coverages of the fate of the iron and steel industry in the UK showed desperate lack of understanding by both sets of people. No wonder they struggle with any problems related to science and engineering.
I have never worked in a steelworks, coal-mine or ironstone quarry but even I know...
- The difference between Iron and Steel.
- That a blast-furnace does not make steel. It makes raw iron from its ore.
- That a blast-furnace is not fuelled with coal. It uses coke (distilled coal) as both fuel and reducing-agent. Plus limestone as a flux.
- That Electric-Arc and other furnace types refine raw iron and recover scrap iron and steel. Not ore-smelting*.
- The three primary products from the raw "pig iron" from the blast-furnace: pure iron for electrical equipment, cast-iron for machine parts, pure iron as the base ingredient of the huge range of steels .
Where did I learn these? Initially, in school science and geography lessons!
Come on, policy-makers and reporters, do some learning!
......
* At present. Arc-furnaces were used for iron-smelting in Sweden, Germany and America a hundred years ago. They still need a reducing-agent which I think could now be hydrogen. They do of course require vast amounts of electricity and a steady supply of the consumable electrodes.
