John paul III - 9-1-2022 at 01:01
in many metal catalyzed reactions, such as oxidation of ammonia on a copper wire, the hot wire inserted into the gas containing flask gets so hot it
melts. this seems very efficient for melting small amounts of metals. is there such a reaction that would melt carbon steel wire, since steel is the
most useful alloy? nickel would also be interesting
metalresearcher - 9-1-2022 at 01:20
If it were that simple, it would be already have been invented. And industry is not interested in very small amounts of steel.
Moreover, NH3 is very hard to burn without catalyst.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonia#Combustion
John paul III - 9-1-2022 at 05:13
it might have never been published or never even discovered if it's only useful to a hobbyist. copper IS the catalyst in the example
[Edited on 9-1-2022 by John paul III]