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A) Furnace
A furnace is a device used for high-temperature heating commonly
used in industry for various purposes such as making steel and heat treating
of materials to change their molecular structure. The name furnace is
derived from Greek word fornax, which means oven. In American English and
Canadian English usage, the term furnace on its own refers to the household
heating systems based on a central furnace (known either as a boiler, or a
heater in British English), and sometimes as a synonym for kiln, a device
used in the production of ceramics. In British English, a furnace is an
industrial furnace used for many things, such as the extraction of metal from
ore (smelting) or in oil refineries and other chemical plants, for example as
the heat source for fractional distillation columns.
Historically, the Romans were created the idea at the first place,
called as the hypocaust. It was actually used as a form of under-floor heating
using a fire at one corner of a basement with the exhaust vented through
flues in the walls to the chimneys. This form could only be used in stone or
brick homes. There was a very high chance for fire and suffocation through
this idea. The generation of heat in furnaces is by burning fuel but back then,
furnaces burned wood. In the seventeenth century, coal began to replace
wood as a primary fuel which lasted until the early 1940s where gas then
became the primary fuel. After the 1970s, gas furnaces were replaced by
electric furnaces due to energy crisis. Electrical furnaces are still popular until
today but gas furnaces still remain in homes as a form of home heating
equipment. Wood and coal burning furnaces require a constant feeding for
maintaining warmth in homes.
Today's modern furnace uses stainless steel, aluminized steel,
aluminum, brass, copper, and fiberglass. Stainless steel is used in the heat
exchangers for corrosion resistance. Aluminized steel is used to construct the
frame, blowers, and burners. Brass is used for valves, and copper in the
electrical wiring. Fiberglass is used insulate the cabinet.