Raw materials are substances extracted from the earth and transformed into useful products. Commodities like lumber, metal ores, grain, cotton, and crude oil undergo a process to be transformed into different forms for easy transportation and storage. The methods used depend on the desired finished product and can be expensive or inexpensive. For example, gold requires expensive machinery and many workers while processing raw cotton is relatively inexpensive. Different processes are used for each type of raw material to serve a useful purpose in creating finished products.
The processing of raw materials involves taking substances or resources from the earth and transforming them into products useful to humanity. For example, crude oil is a raw material that is mined from deep within the earth, processed into various fuels, oils, plastics, and other chemicals that are used to make many different products. Throughout history, humans have been able to take raw materials from the earth and create useful items. Some methods used in raw material processing may require great effort and financial investment, while others may require simpler and less expensive methods. The techniques used in the processing of raw materials are determined by the type of material and the type of final product required.
Commodities are substances that can be extracted, harvested, harvested, or otherwise taken from the earth. There are many types of commodities including lumber, metal ores, grain, cotton, and crude oil. These raw materials are subjected to a process and transformed into one or more different forms. The raw material transformed into these altered forms can then be easily transported, stored and used to create finished products or parts. Humans have processed raw materials throughout their history, but today the methods used to make everything from the basic cotton fabric to the tempered steel used in the International Space Station have become much more complex.
Transforming raw materials into products can require a large amount of money. For example, gold is a raw material that sometimes has to be mined from solid rock. Manual processing of raw materials such as gold is difficult, slow and probably unprofitable, however, a more profitable means of mining for gold involves expensive machinery, explosives and the efforts of many workers. Not all methods used in processing raw materials are expensive. For example, processing raw cotton into finished cotton cloth is relatively inexpensive and requires only some basic hand labor, a spinning wheel, and a loom.
The methods and techniques used in processing the raw materials depend entirely on the desired finished product. The processes used for each type of raw material often involve transforming that material into another form that serves a useful purpose. The process used in converting raw metals such as iron ore into steel involves enrichment, or crushing and separation, and smelting, the process of heating the ore to obtain the pure metal. Processing raw materials like trees can involve an entirely different process. For example, when trees are harvested, the wood is cut into logs, shipped to a sawmill, cut into more easily transportable formats, seasoned, made into other products such as plywood or chipboard, and finally used to create finished products such as houses, furniture, or guitars.
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