Iron
Element Name: Iron
Atomic Number: 26
Atomic Mass: 55.845
Atomic Symbol: Fe
Melting Point: 1538° C
Boiling Point: 2861° C
Iron is a common gray metal which is ductile and soft. Iron is a good conductor of electricity and heat, and can be readily magnetized. In its elemental form iron is very reactive and will rust readily in air. Iron gets its name from the Anglo-Saxon Iren. The chemical symbol for iron, Fe, comes from the Latin word for iron, ferrum. There are 3 known allotropes of iron, and a fourth form of iron is suspected to exist at extreme pressure and temperature. Iron can be readily alloyed with other metals and carbon to manipulate its physical properties. There are four naturally occurring isotopes of iron, with the most abundant one being 56Fe. There are 24 known radioactive isotopes of iron ranging from 72 to 45. Iron’s oxidation states vary greatly, and range from -2 to +6. Of these +2 and +3 are the most common.
Interesting Facts:
Elemental iron is actually quite soft. Iron cannot take in sufficient quantities of carbon to become steel at normal temperatures. This is why iron needs to be forged at extremely high temperatures to make it better. Hemoglobin in your blood contains iron for the sake of transferring oxygen from your lungs to other parts of your body. The red color of blood comes from this hemoglobin. Iron was first discovered from meteorites and was considered to be very rare – in ancient Assyria Iron was 8 times more valuable than gold. Iron is the only elemental to have an “Age” of society devoted to it. Animals like honeybees, dolphins, and homing pigeons have magnetite inside them which allows them to navigate using the earth’s magnetic field.
Sources:
Iron is not found in a pure state in nature. Several ores like hermatite, magnetite, taconite, geothite, limonite, and siderite contain a significant portion of iron. Iron is the most abundant element by weight in the entirety of earth (at around 35% of the planet’s mass), but is only the fourth most common element in the crust. It is found at 1000 parts per million.
Industrial Uses:
Iron is ubiquitous. 95% of the metal production in the world is iron, and whenever another metal is called “light” or “malleable” it’s almost always being compared to iron or steel. Iron sees use in things such as structural steel to tanks to toasters – it’s even in your blood! If you examined the total amount of iron in use in the world you’d see that for every person there is 2200kg of iron. Iron’s most important use is in the production of steel. By adding carbon to iron you make steel, and by alloying different combinations of metal with iron you can make a material to fit your needs. Stainless steel used in cookware is an alloy of steel and chromium. Iron is also important in the production of magnets. NIB (neodymium-iron-boron) magnets are some of the strongest readily available magnets available and are used in computers. The only real downside to iron is that it is so susceptible to rust and must be given regular inspection and upkeep.
References:
“Facts About Iron.” Livescience. Livescience.com, 6 Jan. 2013. Web. 26 July
2016.
“Iron.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 26 July 2016.
“Iron Element Facts / Chemistry.” Chemicool. Chemicool.com, 6 Oct. 2012.
Web. 26 July 2016.
Gray, Theodore W., and Nick Mann. The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every
Known Atom in the Universe. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2009. Print.