Are metals burnable?

Best way to see burning iron is the way the acetylene cutting torch works. Pure o2 hits the heated iron and keeps it burning until u turn off the o2.
 
A classic school chemistry experiment : Fill a glass cylinder with oxygen. Hold a bunch of steel wool with tongs over a bunsen burner until it is red hot. Drop the glowing steel wool into the oxygen. WOOSH ! The steel vapourises, leaving a tiny bit of ash. Steel burns !

This principle is used to cut steel with an oxy-acetylene torch. This does not work for stainless steel, though. For this we heat the stainless steel to melting with an electric arc and blow the molten steel away with a powerful blast of air or inert gas. This is the plasma cutter.

Mike
 
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