Smelting is a process of applying heat to an ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a chemical- reducing agent to decompose the ore, driving off other elements as gases or slag and leaving the metal base behind. The reducing agent is commonly a fossil fuel source of carbon, such as coke—or, in earlier times, charcoal.The oxygen in the ore binds to carbon at high temperatures as the chemical potential energy of the bonds in carbon dioxide (CO2) is lower than the bonds in the ore.
Give me a one line summary about smelting
Smelting is the process of extracting metals from their ores by applying heat and a chemical-reducing agent to drive off non-wanted materials as gases and leaving the base (wanted) material behind.