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204 Science and Technology

Industry is a general term meaning the businesses and

organizations that provide the goods and services we

need. There are primary industries, such as agriculture

and mining, manufacturing industries, and service

industries, such as tourism and banking.

WHAT ARE PRIMARY INDUSTRIES?

Primary industries supply us with food and with the

. RAW MATERIALS we need to clothe and house
ourselves, and to make all the other things we use.
For example, agricultural and fishing industries
produce food. Forestry supplies wood for making
paper and construction. Oil drilling and mining
extract fuels to supply energy and materials.

WHAT IS A COTTAGE INDUSTRY?

A cottage industry is run by an individual or

a family, often from their home. Before the Industrial

Revolution, most industries were cottage industries.

Family names such as Weaver and Potter identified

the family trade. Today, new kinds of cottage industry

have developed where home-based workers use

computers and the Internet to supply their customers.

WHERE ARE INDUSTRIES LOCATED?

Industries develop wherever their supplies are found.

Steel-making and shipbuilding, for example, need raw

materials. Steel plants are often built near coal mines,

which supply the fuel they need to produce the steel.

Some other industries need lots of workers, so they

are often located where labour costs are low.

WHAT ARE BY-PRODUCTS?

A by-product is any useful material that is left over

from an industrial process. The slag (crumbled rock)

left behind when iron is extracted from iron ore can

be used for road-building. Useful amounts of gold,

silver, and platinum are left behind as by-products

of copper production.

Raw materials are the natural sources of

fuel and manufacturing materials used by

industry. For example, oil supplies energy

and also chemicals for making plastics.

Metal ores give us metals such as iron.

Clay makes pottery, and sand makes glass.

HOW ARE RAW MATERIALS USED?

Many raw materials have to be processed using force,

heat, or chemical reactions. Iron ore rock is crushed,

then heated with coke (a form of carbon) in a blast

furnace. Chemical reactions with the coke and air

reduce the ore to liquid iron, which flows from the

bottom of the furnace and hardens as it cools.

1 TEA PRODUCTION

Growing tea is an agricultural

industry. Tea leaves are picked

by hand so it is labour-intensive

• it needs a lot of workers. Many
  such jobs in agriculture are now
  done by machine.

Industry

MOTOR INDUSTRY 3

The motor industry is now one

of the biggest industries in the

world. Each day, thousands of

cars roll off the production lines

of car plants around the world.

1 OPENCAST MINING

An opencast mine is a gaping

hole in the ground where raw

materials are dug. Coal, metal

ores, and stone are all used as

raw materials for industry.

RAW MATERIALS

Partly-completed

cars move steadily

along the

production line

Robot arms,

guided by

computers,

assemble car

bodies

Modern cars

consist of a

steel shell to

which all the

other parts are

attached

FIND OUT MORE. Energy Resources 60–61 • Farming 66 • Fishing 67 • Forestry 67 • Materials 170 • Rocks 46–47

industry