When an electric current is made to pass through a conductor that offers great resistance, the temperature of the conductor is raised. Electricians have taken advantage of this fact to use electricity for heating, cooking and welding. The wire is imbedded in an enamel which has about the expansive degree of the conductor. The current, meeting resistance, heats the wire. If there were no substance present to convey off this heat the wire would fuse or weld, but the enamel carries off the heat generated, and the current continues to pass along the wire. In practice, the enamel plates, with the wire buried in them, are placed in ovens, on the bottoms of kettles, pans and other kitchen utensils, in broilers, gridirons and on the polishing surface of flatirons. By this means frying, boiling, baking, broiling and stewing are performed by the heat produced by electricity. Welding iron and steel and other metals, susceptible of being united under high temperatures and pressure, is done by pressing together the surfaces to be welded and then passing through them a current of high voltage. In practice, the parts to be welded are clamped together, and more pressure is applied when the metal, at the point of weld, is brought to a welding heat. One particular advantage found in welding by electricity is that the surfaces do not oxidize; consequently, there is no necessity for using a flux.