Materials · 1900

Electric arc furnace

Electric arcs melt scrap into new steel.

Paul Heroult built a commercial electric arc furnace in France in 1900. EAFs now make about 30 percent of world steel, mostly from scrap.

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 2

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

UK electricity output since 1896 Latest: 3.57M MWh (1998) Source: Our World in Data