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Slag is waste material that must be removed and treated separately or disposed of safely. It can be dangerous, poisonous or impure. The term originally referred to impurities in metal smelting, but is now used more generally to refer to impurities in other refining processes and even metaphorically.
The term “slag” is used to describe waste material that must be removed and treated separately or disposed of in a safe place. It can also be dangerous, poisonous or impure, depending on the context of use. This word comes from an Old German word meaning “scum” and was originally used to refer to manufacturing processes.
In the original sense, people used “slag” to refer to the impurities that arise during the smelting process. When metal is melted, it oxidizes, forming a layer of foam and impurities that float to the surface as the metal heats up. This slag can be scraped off the metal so that the refined product is purer, ensuring reliable performance when cast or processed. With some metals, the amount of slag generated can be very large, up to 50% of the metal, and this can significantly increase the cost of the metal.
In addition to containing oxidation products, slag can contain a variety of unwanted impurities that have entered the metal. In some cases, these impurities can be dangerous as well as unwanted, explaining the occasional use of the word to describe something that is potentially toxic. This type of slag must be handled and processed with special care so that it does not pose a risk to human health and can sometimes cause problems in refineries and forges, as it can leak dangerously when heated.
Over time, people started using the term more generally to refer to impurities. For example, a city might say it processes its water to remove waste before delivering it to the final consumer, meaning it is filtered to extract potentially dangerous impurities. People may also use the term when describing other waste materials that emerge during other types of refining processes.
People can also talk about waste metaphorically. For example, someone might say, “I was able to get more work done once I cleared my mind of mental dross.” In this case, it is not a physical impurity that can be skimmed off, but a set of unwanted and distracting thoughts that someone manages to erase so that they can concentrate. Clearing mental waste is a key focus of disciplines such as meditation and guided imagery, and people are sometimes encouraged to discard the mental form of waste materials so they can focus their thoughts and efforts more effectively. .
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