Question

Two articles are made – one with cast iron and other with steel. The one with cast iron breaks easily while the one with steel does not break easily. Explain the distinguishing feature.

Answer 1

Hint: The properties of cast iron and steel play the most important role in making the articles. Not only articles, the properties are taken into account while making anything. Steel has better tensile strength than cast iron and also the impact resistance of steel is better.

Complete answer:
The reason for which articles made with cast iron break easily is that cast iron is not as tensile as steel. As steel is more tensile, it can be stretched more and thus it does not break easily.
Another reason is impact resistance, impact resistance of steel is more than that of cast iron, and thus cast iron cannot stand much impact and breaks easily.
This can also be expressed in terms of toughness, cast iron is hard and strong but it is not tough, it is brittle. While steel is less hard and strong, it is tougher.
The main difference between cast iron and steel is the carbon content in both of them. Cast iron mostly contains more than 2 percent of carbon and steel mostly contains 0.1 to 0.5 percent of carbon.
The content of carbon in both of those materials gives them different properties and thus cast iron becomes more brittle and less tough.

Note:
There are a lot of differences between cast iron and steel, they both have specific uses and one cannot be used in place of the other. For less brittle and more impact resistant objects, steel is preferred over cast iron.