Lisbon's Vasco da Gama Bridge is the longest in Europe, spanning a total distance of 10.7 miles. Taking three years to complete, the bridge opened for traffic in 1998 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Vasco da Dama's discovery of the maritime route from Europe to India.
The arc temperature may be upto 20,000 K. Although TIG welding produces the highest quality welds, it is a slow and expensive process. Metal inert gas welding process (MIG) is economical with consumable electrode fed at a predetermined rate. Plasma arc welding (PAW) has made substantial progress in utilising the high heat energy of an ionised gas stream.
A cutting torch is used to cut a steel pipe. Oxy-fuel welding (commonly called oxyacetylene welding, oxy welding, or gas welding in the U.S.) and oxy-fuel cutting are processes that use fuel gases and oxygen to weld and cut metals, respectively. French engineers Edmond FouchÃ© and Charles Picard became the first to develop oxygen-acetylene welding in 1903.