What are cordless drills made of?
Cordless drills take 7 things directly, among them copper wire, steel, plastic, solder, printed circuit board and screw. Trace them back and you pass 54 made things on the way to 28 raw materials.
How cordless drills are made See it on the map
What goes straight in
From the ground: 28 raw materials
- Natural gas through plastic
- Copper ore through lithium-ion cell, copper
- Water through lithium-ion cell, copper
- Air through lithium-ion cell, copper
- Iron ore through lithium-ion cell, manganese
- Limestone through steel, quicklime
- Dolomite through steel, magnesium
- Manganese ore through lithium-ion cell, manganese
- Crude oil through plastic, propylene
- Tin ore through solder, tin
- Lead ore through solder, silver
- Silver ore through solder, silver
- Zinc ore through solder, silver
- Silica sand through printed circuit board, fiberglass
- Lithium brine through lithium-ion cell, lithium carbonate
- Spodumene through lithium-ion cell, lithium carbonate
- Cobalt ore through lithium-ion cell, cobalt
- Nickel ore through lithium-ion cell, nickel
- Coal through lithium-ion cell, aluminum
- Sulfur through lithium-ion cell, copper, sulfuric acid
- Quartz through steel, magnesium, metallurgical silicon
- Timber through steel, magnesium, metallurgical silicon
- Rock salt through printed circuit board, fiberglass, soda ash
- Trona through printed circuit board, fiberglass, soda ash
- Bauxite through lithium-ion cell, aluminum, alumina
- Corn through printed circuit board, fiberglass, soda ash, carbon dioxide
- Sugarcane through printed circuit board, fiberglass, soda ash, carbon dioxide, baker's yeast, molasses
- Sugar beet through printed circuit board, fiberglass, soda ash, carbon dioxide, baker's yeast, molasses
Made along the way: 47 things
Metals 15
CopperPig ironMagnesiumSteel scrapManganeseTinLeadSilverSteel wireZincCobaltNickelAluminumCokeAlumina
Chemicals and fuels 23
Oxygen gasQuicklimeArgonNaphthaEthylenePropyleneSynthetic graphiteSulfuric acidPropaneHydrogenSoda ashPhenolAcetoneChlorineCaustic sodaPetroleum cokeCharcoalAmmoniaCarbon dioxideBenzeneFormaldehydeTolueneMethanol
Plastics and fibers 4
Electronics 3
Food 2
What it is packed in
On the line, but left out of everything above, because it holds the finished thing rather than goes into it.