Question

How are broken railway tracks joined? Give the name of the process and the chemical equation of the reaction involved.

Answer 1

Thermite Process is used for joining broken railway tracks.

• Broken Railway tracks are joined by filling the gaps with molten iron formed in the reaction of Ferric oxide$\left({\mathrm{Fe}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3\right)$ with Aluminium powder called as Thermite process.
• The reduction property of Aluminium is used in thermite welding for joining the broken pieces of heavy iron objects like girders, railway tracks, or cracked machine parts.
• Aluminium reduces iron oxide to produce molten iron metal with the evolution of heat which is poured between broken pieces of iron to joint them.
• The balanced chemical equation can be represented as:

$\underset{\mathrm{Ferric}\mathrm{oxide}}{{\mathrm{Fe}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Aluminum}\mathrm{powder}}{2\mathrm{Al}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}\to \underset{\mathrm{Iron}}{2\mathrm{Fe}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Aluminum}\mathrm{oxide}}{{\mathrm{Al}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}+\mathrm{Heat}$

Therefore, the Thermite process is used for joining the railway tracks.