Iron is the most widely used metal. It is very cheap and strong, so is used to support huge building and bridges.
Through the process of smelting, which is known as reduction reaction, iron is extracted from iron ore.This process of smelting takes place in a blast furnace. The blast furnace gets its name from the hot air that is blasted into it. Here iron ore, limestone and coke (a type of carbon) are heated together and hot air is blasted into the furnace.
The carbon present in coke reacts with oxygen and forms carbon monoxide. This, in turn, takes oxygen from iron ore, leaving behind iron mixed with carbon. The temperature in a furnace reaches up to 2000°C.
Below Blast Furnaces info from Wikipedia (Read More):-
A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce metals, generally iron.
In a blast furnace, fuel and ore are continuously supplied through the top of the furnace, while air (sometimes with oxygen enrichment) is blown into the bottom of the chamber, so that the chemical reactions take place throughout the furnace as the material moves downward. The end products are usually molten metal and slag phases tapped from the bottom, and flue gases exiting from the top of the furnace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blast_furnace
