What makes steel such a universally used metal? If we didn’t have steel, what’s the next most universally applicable metal?
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It’s a hard, sturdy metal, perfect for construction. Most metals on the periodic table are actually quite soft. Steel is iron plus carbon, which makes it stronger, and suitable for construction. There are some strong metals you could use, like tungsten or titanium, but the benefit of steel is that both iron and the carbon necessary (coal) are very, verywidely available, and therefore very cheap (comparatively).
Your closest reasonable substitute would probably be iron, the base of steel, but it’s much more prone to rust, and shorter lives. To make some things like beams, you could use would, but they’re not as long lasting or as durable. Additionally, steel is more versatile, making things like tubes and shapes that wood can’t.
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