Zinc smelting

Zinc smelting is the process of turning rocks that have little pieces of zinc in them into a shiny metal we can use for lots of things, like making screws or building cars.

First, miners dig out the rocks from deep in the ground. These rocks are called zinc ores.

Next, the rocks are crushed up into tiny pieces so that the zinc can be separated from other minerals (that we don't need). Think of it like making a smoothie: the blender grinds everything up, but you only want to drink the juice.

The next step is to put the tiny pieces of rock into a special oven called a furnace. The furnace is super hot, like a campfire but even hotter! This turns the zinc into a gas.

The gas then travels through pipes to another part of the factory. This part is called the condenser. It's like a big fridge that cools the gas down so that it turns back into a solid form. This solid form is the shiny zinc we can use!

Finally, the zinc is taken out of the condenser and melted down again into shapes like rods or sheets.

Overall, zinc smelting is like turning rocks into a smoothie, heating up the juice until it becomes a gas, then cooling it down again to make shiny metal we can use!