# What is the largest piece of forged metal in the world? Largest single manufactured piece ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 27, 2016, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-piece-of-forged-metal-in-the-world-largest-single-manufactured-piece-ever/775731 "2016-12-27T21:51:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-piece-of-forged-metal-in-the-world-largest-single-manufactured-piece-ever/775731/61 "2017-01-09T06:31:36Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > … > Except as noted above, nothing you posted contradicts anything I said. Possibly you think it does… 😕Whence the dudgeon? Or, if not dudgeon, the dialectic? I just posted a post. Not everything not coming from you yourself is contradictory…Even if you were expecting a pushback. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-piece-of-forged-metal-in-the-world-largest-single-manufactured-piece-ever/775731/62 "2017-01-09T06:48:22Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > 😕Whence the dudgeon? > > Or, if not dudgeon, the dialectic? I just posted a post. Not everything not coming from you yourself is contradictory…Even if you were expecting a pushback. 🙂 I assumed you had some problem with what I posted since you quoted me. That’s usually why I quote people. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-piece-of-forged-metal-in-the-world-largest-single-manufactured-piece-ever/775731/63 "2017-01-09T12:42:44Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Thanks, but I said _on_ Earth, not in it or of it. Assuming supply was limitless. > > Won’t it melt itself eventually, so to speak, just like the mountains? > > Jeez. Hmm. I thought I answered the question you asked. So now you want to know how big a ball given a limitless supply? OK. The Universe is not in fact limitless. But on human scale it’s kinda close. Ref [Observable universe - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observable_universe) the Universe masses about 1E53kg ignoring dark matter & energy. Per [Abundance of the chemical elements - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance_of_the_chemical_elements) the Milky Way has about 1 part per thousand of iron by weight. So we have 1E50kg of iron to work with in the entire Universe. Obviously if we gathered it all into one region we’d A) have a big ball followed quickly by B) having a very heavy black hole. Exactly how that sorts out depends a bit on what magic we use to transport it and how we dispose of the residual angular momentum and magnetism it may have. Either way it’ll be very exciting. I’m not sure what’s a safe distance to watch from. There may not even \*be \*a safe distance; after all we’re talking abut gathering up 0.1% of the entire universe in one spot. That’s a truly stupendous amount of energy in “one” place. Going at it the other way, what’s the biggest thing our puny ant-like tech can make here in the primitive early 21st century? Done right, welding produces a continuous part. What you weld on is fully a part of the whole. It’d be best to use fairly small human-sized pieces; welding house-sized hunks is hard; welding cantaloupe sized hunks is easy. In that sense we can keep welding hunks onto our ever-growing lump as long as we can supply iron and welders. Just like making a sand pile; just keep adding more on top. Periodically it’ll spontaneously rearrange itself as it gets too heavy to support itself. Once it stops moving we go back to welding; first to reattach any hunks that broke off, then adding more to the exposed periphery. As it gets big enough it’ll begin to sink into the ground, no matter whether that ground is soft sand or hard bedrock. But part of it will stay exposed on the surface and we can keep adding to it. Eventually it’ll be a bit like an iceberg; more invisible below the surface that exposed towering above it. Ref [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance\_of\_elements\_in\_Earth’s\_crust:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance_of_elements_in_Earth%27s_crust:) The Earth’s mass is about 6E24kg. The crust is 0.5% of that, so 3E22kg. Iron is about 5% of the crust. So 1.5E21kg of potentially mineable iron with today or nearly today tech. Call it 1E21kg to account for not getting every last scrap, especially the deepest stuff. By comparison, current worldwide iron production is about 1E12kg. So at current rates of production we’ll be working for 1E9 years before our “limitless supply” runs out. Sounds difficult, but sillier (and socio-economico-technically harder) things have been done by human society in the past in the name of religion and kings. But none for quite so long. Yet. Perhaps this near-eternal pursuit of the ultimate Bloom of Iron shall be your legacy. Or perhaps not. One can but dream. Bigly. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-piece-of-forged-metal-in-the-world-largest-single-manufactured-piece-ever/775731/64 "2017-01-09T17:02:07Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > I assumed you had some problem with what I posted since you quoted me. That’s usually why I quote people. Huh. I quote to track a conversation for many reasons, in your case ironically of agreement, particularly if there’s been an intervening post on a different facet. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-piece-of-forged-metal-in-the-world-largest-single-manufactured-piece-ever/775731/65 "2017-01-09T20:33:40Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Hmm. I thought I answered the question you asked. So now you want to know how big a ball given a limitless supply? OK. The Universe is not in fact limitless. But on human scale it’s kinda close > …Perhaps this near-eternal pursuit of the ultimate Bloom of Iron shall be your legacy… 1. Nice work. You’re hired. 2. My title “Bloom of Iron” is acceptable. “The Iron Bloom” works also. 3. Do not mention Ozymandias. Speaking of which/whom (I told you not to, but _I_ can, and of Michelangelo too, your note on the “human” element— > [@](#): > > …Done right, welding produces a continuous part. What you weld on is fully a part of the whole. It’d be best to use fairly small human-sized pieces; welding house-sized hunks is hard; welding cantaloupe sized hunks is easy… is a nice allegory, more leaden, one might say, of measuring coffee spoons. Which is an allegory. Or symbol. Metaphor. Whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-piece-of-forged-metal-in-the-world-largest-single-manufactured-piece-ever/775731/66 "2017-01-10T04:14:21Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > CWR is the preferred technology for any rail really. The Indian Pacific and the Adelaide Darwin lines are most certainly CWR. Whenever an old line is upgraded, it will be done with CWR. In Oz, all the standardisation projects replaced the old lines with CWR. > > As you say, breaks will occur for passing loops, and electrical breaks for electrical train detection will break up the individual lengths of rail. But on a long route, there could easily be quite significant lengths of continuous metal. For instance there are operational sections of the Alice Springs to Darwin link that exceed 100km in length. So, no passing loops (there are only two on the entire link) and a section of well over 100 km that requires no internal signalling detection. It would be easy to suppose that was continuous metal. How do they handle thermal expansion of the rail? . ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-piece-of-forged-metal-in-the-world-largest-single-manufactured-piece-ever/775731/67 "2017-01-10T04:17:15Z")
> [@Precambrianmollusc](#): > > How do they handle thermal expansion of the rail? [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19883052&postcount=27](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19883052&postcount=27) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19883052&postcount=29](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19883052&postcount=29) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-piece-of-forged-metal-in-the-world-largest-single-manufactured-piece-ever/775731/68 "2017-01-10T04:47:49Z")
Cool! Tension solves many things. I am neck deep in some tube axial load and temperature related buckling problems right now and that was cool to know. . ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-piece-of-forged-metal-in-the-world-largest-single-manufactured-piece-ever/775731/69 "2017-01-10T04:52:23Z")
And I now realize that response was in this thread. Must read thread fully before posting. . ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-piece-of-forged-metal-in-the-world-largest-single-manufactured-piece-ever/775731/70 "2017-01-10T05:40:29Z")
Re-re-reading this very satisfying thread: 😕 “scantling displacement”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-piece-of-forged-metal-in-the-world-largest-single-manufactured-piece-ever/775731.md?page=3)