15 Amazing Steel Facts That Will Surprise You

Steel is also christened as “white gold”. It's an alloy made from iron and carbon, and is the world’s most useful engineering and construction material.
We find steel being used in our day-to-day lives, in everything we use, or the buildings we live in. Steel has now become important for our lives.
Here are 15 amazing facts about steel:

1. About 69% of steel is recycled in North America each year.
   
   This is more than paper, glass, aluminum and plastic combined.
   The United States leads the pack in recycling steel. About 80 million tons of steel are recycled in America.
2. Millions of tons of steel is diverted from the waste stream.
   
   This is then recycled easily as steel has magnetic properties that make it easy to separate from the effluents.
3. Steel products can be recycled any number of times.
   
4. By recycling steel, you save power that can light up 18 million homes.
   
5. For every ton of steel recycled, 120 pounds of limestone and 2500 pounds of iron ore are saved.
   
   Since coal is also a nonrenewable energy source, about 1400 pounds of the “black gold” are saved.
6. Steel can be stronger when recycled and not when it is new.
   
7. Since 1970, the iron and steel industry of North America has spent 7.5 billion in capital equipment to tackle air and water pollution.
   
8. Nearly $10 billion has been invested in producing new steel that is stronger and reduces environmental pollution.
   
9. Any parts made by steel are not easily affected by dents and are stronger by about 30 per cent.
   
10. More than 14 million cars were recycled in the year 2006 to produce high-end quality steel.
    
11. Steel automobiles were first produced in 1918.
    
12. The locks of seat belt used in cars that help you buckle up during a car ride is made of recycled steel.
    
13. There is a steel beam that helps protect car passengers while driving and that helps protect you if there is a collision.
14. Door latches in cars are most often made of steel.
    
15. If you reduce a car down to its basic skeleton, it will give you enough steel to make 4 utility poles.