Iron is a mineral that our bodies need for many functions. For example, iron is part of hemoglobin, a protein which carries oxygen from our lungs throughout our bodies. It helps our muscles store and use oxygen. Iron is also part of many other proteins and enzymes. Your body needs the right amount of iron.
Iron (/ˈaɪərn/) is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from Latin: ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in front of oxygen (32.1% and 30.1%, respectively), forming much of Earth’s outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth’s crust.
In its metallic state, iron is rare in the Earth’s crust, limited mainly to deposition by meteorites. Iron ores, by contrast, are among the most abundant in the Earth’s crust, although extracting usable metal from them requires kilns or furnaces capable of reaching 1,500 °C (2,730 °F) or higher, about 500 °C (900 °F) higher than that required to smelt copper. Humans started to master that process in Eurasia by about 2000 BCE,[not verified in body] and the use of iron tools and weapons began to displace copper alloys, in some regions, only around 1200 BCE. That event is considered the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. In the modern world, iron alloys, such as steel, stainless steel, cast iron and special steels are by far the most common industrial metals, because of their mechanical properties and low cost.
Pristine and smooth pure iron surfaces are mirror-like silvery-gray. However, iron reacts readily with oxygen and water to give brown to black hydrated iron oxides, commonly known as rust. Unlike the oxides of some other metals, that form passivating layers, rust occupies more volume than the metal and thus flakes off, exposing fresh surfaces for corrosion. Although iron readily reacts, high purity iron, called electrolytic iron, has better corrosion resistance.
The body of an adult human contains about 4 grams (0.005% body weight) of iron, mostly in hemoglobin and myoglobin. These two proteins play essential roles in vertebrate metabolism, respectively oxygen transport by blood and oxygen storage in muscles. To maintain the necessary levels, human iron metabolism requires a minimum of iron in the diet. Iron is also the metal at the active site of many important redox enzymes dealing with cellular respiration and oxidation and reduction in plants and animals.
Chemically, the most common oxidation states of iron are iron(II) and iron(III). Iron shares many properties of other transition metals, including the other group 8 elements, ruthenium and osmium. Iron forms compounds in a wide range of oxidation states, −2 to +7. Iron also forms many coordination compounds; some of them, such as ferrocene, ferrioxalate, and Prussian blue, have substantial industrial, medical, or research applications.
Iron is a brittle, hard substance, classified as a metal in Group 8 on the Periodic Table of the Elements. The most abundant of all metals, its pure form rapidly corrodes from exposure to moist air and high temperatures. Iron is also the fourth most common element in Earth’s crust by weight and much of Earth’s core is thought to be composed of iron. Besides being commonly found on Earth, it is abundant in the sun and stars, according to the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Iron is crucial to the survival of living organisms, according to Jefferson Lab. In plants, it plays a role in the production of chlorophyll. In animals, it is a component of hemoglobin — a protein in blood that carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissues in the body.
Ninety percent of all metal that is refined these days is iron, according to the Royal Society of Chemistry. Most of it is used to make steel — an alloy of iron and carbon — which is in turn used in manufacturing and civil engineering, for instance, to make reinforced concrete. Stainless steel, which contains at least 10.5 percent chromium, is highly resistant to corrosion. It is used in kitchen cutlery, appliances and cookware such as stainless steel pans and skillets. The addition of other elements can provide steel with other useful qualities. For instance, nickel increases its durability and makes it more resistant to heat and acids; manganese makes it more durable, whereas tungsten helps it maintain hardness at high temperatures, according to Jefferson Lab.
Just the facts
Atomic number (number of protons in the nucleus): 26
Atomic symbol (on the Periodic Table of Elements): Fe
Atomic weight (average mass of the atom): 55.845
Density: 7.874 grams per cubic centimeter
Phase at room temperature: Solid
Melting point: 2,800.4 degrees Fahrenheit (1,538 degrees Celsius)
Boiling point: 5,181.8 F (2,861 C)
Number of isotopes (atoms of the same element with a different number of neutrons): (include how many are stable isotopes): 33 Stable isotopes: 4
Most common isotopes: Iron-56 (natural abundance: 91.754 percent)
History and properties of iron
Archeologists estimate that people have been using iron for more than 5,000 years, according to Jefferson Lab. In fact, it turns out that some of the most ancient iron known to humans literally fell from the sky. In a study published in 2013 in the Journal of Archeological Science, researchers examined ancient Egyptian iron beads that date to around 3200 B.C. and found that they were made from iron meteorites. The Old Testament in the Bible also mentions iron multiple times, according to Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Characteristics
Allotropes
Main article: Allotropes of iron
Molar volume vs. pressure for α iron at room temperature
At least four allotropes of iron (differing atom arrangements in the solid) are known, conventionally denoted α, γ, δ, and ε.
Low-pressure phase diagram of pure iron
The first three forms are observed at ordinary pressures. As molten iron cools past its freezing point of 1538 °C, it crystallizes into its δ allotrope, which has a body-centered cubic (bcc) crystal structure. As it cools further to 1394 °C, it changes to its γ-iron allotrope, a face-centered cubic (fcc) crystal structure, or austenite. At 912 °C and below, the crystal structure again becomes the bcc α-iron allotrope.[6]
The physical properties of iron at very high pressures and temperatures have also been studied extensively,[7][8] because of their relevance to theories about the cores of the Earth and other planets. Above approximately 10 GPa and temperatures of a few hundred kelvin or less, α-iron changes into another hexagonal close-packed (hcp) structure, which is also known as ε-iron. The higher-temperature γ-phase also changes into ε-iron, but does so at higher pressure.
Some controversial experimental evidence exists for a stable β phase at pressures above 50 GPa and temperatures of at least 1500 K. It is supposed to have an orthorhombic or a double hcp structure.[9] (Confusingly, the term “β-iron” is sometimes also used to refer to α-iron above its Curie point, when it changes from being ferromagnetic to paramagnetic, even though its crystal structure has not changed.[6])
The inner core of the Earth is generally presumed to consist of an iron-nickel alloy with ε (or β) structure.[10]
Melting and boiling points
The melting and boiling points of iron, along with its enthalpy of atomization, are lower than those of the earlier 3d elements from scandium to chromium, showing the lessened contribution of the 3d electrons to metallic bonding as they are attracted more and more into the inert core by the nucleus;[11] however, they are higher than the values for the previous element manganese because that element has a half-filled 3d sub-shell and consequently its d-electrons are not easily delocalized. This same trend appears for ruthenium but not osmium.[12]
The melting point of iron is experimentally well defined for pressures less than 50 GPa. For greater pressures, published data (as of 2007) still varies by tens of gigapascals and over a thousand kelvin.[13]
Magnetic properties
Magnetization curves of 9 ferromagnetic materials, showing saturation. 1. Sheet steel, 2. Silicon steel, 3. Cast steel, 4. Tungsten steel, 5. Magnet steel, 6. Cast iron, 7. Nickel, 8. Cobalt, 9. Magnetite[14]
Below its Curie point of 770 °C, α-iron changes from paramagnetic to ferromagnetic: the spins of the two unpaired electrons in each atom generally align with the spins of its neighbors, creating an overall magnetic field.[15] This happens because the orbitals of those two electrons (dz2 and dx2 − y2) do not point toward neighboring atoms in the lattice, and therefore are not involved in metallic bonding.[6]
In the absence of an external source of magnetic field, the atoms get spontaneously partitioned into magnetic domains, about 10 micrometers across,[16] such that the atoms in each domain have parallel spins, but some domains have other orientations. Thus a macroscopic piece of iron will have a nearly zero overall magnetic field.
Application of an external magnetic field causes the domains that are magnetized in the same general direction to grow at the expense of adjacent ones that point in other directions, reinforcing the external field. This effect is exploited in devices that needs to channel magnetic fields, such as electrical transformers, magnetic recording heads, and electric motors. Impurities, lattice defects, or grain and particle boundaries can “pin” the domains in the new positions, so that the effect persists even after the external field is removed — thus turning the iron object into a (permanent) magnet.[15]
Similar behavior is exhibited by some iron compounds, such as the ferrites including the mineral magnetite, a crystalline form of the mixed iron(II,III) oxide Fe
3O
4 (although the atomic-scale mechanism, ferrimagnetism, is somewhat different). Pieces of magnetite with natural permanent magnetization (lodestones) provided the earliest compasses for navigation. Particles of magnetite were extensively used in magnetic recording media such as core memories, magnetic tapes, floppies, and disks, until they were replaced by cobalt-based materials.
Isotopes
Main article: Isotopes of iron
Iron has four stable isotopes: 54Fe (5.845% of natural iron), 56Fe (91.754%), 57Fe (2.119%) and 58Fe (0.282%). 20-30 artificial isotopes have also been created. Of these stable isotopes, only 57Fe has a nuclear spin (−1⁄2). The nuclide 54Fe theoretically can undergo double electron capture to 54Cr, but the process has never been observed and only a lower limit on the half-life of 3.1×1022 years has been established.[17]
60Fe is an extinct radionuclide of long half-life (2.6 million years).[18] It is not found on Earth, but its ultimate decay product is its granddaughter, the stable nuclide 60Ni.[17] Much of the past work on isotopic composition of iron has focused on the nucleosynthesis of 60Fe through studies of meteorites and ore formation. In the last decade, advances in mass spectrometry have allowed the detection and quantification of minute, naturally occurring variations in the ratios of the stable isotopes of iron. Much of this work is driven by the Earth and planetary science communities, although applications to biological and industrial systems are emerging.[19]
In phases of the meteorites Semarkona and Chervony Kut, a correlation between the concentration of 60Ni, the granddaughter of 60Fe, and the abundance of the stable iron isotopes provided evidence for the existence of 60Fe at the time of formation of the Solar System. Possibly the energy released by the decay of 60Fe, along with that released by 26Al, contributed to the remelting and differentiation of asteroids after their formation 4.6 billion years ago. The abundance of 60Ni present in extraterrestrial material may bring further insight into the origin and early history of the Solar System.[20]
The most abundant iron isotope 56Fe is of particular interest to nuclear scientists because it represents the most common endpoint of nucleosynthesis.[21] Since 56Ni (14 alpha particles) is easily produced from lighter nuclei in the alpha process in nuclear reactions in supernovae (see silicon burning process), it is the endpoint of fusion chains inside extremely massive stars, since addition of another alpha particle, resulting in 60Zn, requires a great deal more energy. This 56Ni, which has a half-life of about 6 days, is created in quantity in these stars, but soon decays by two successive positron emissions within supernova decay products in the supernova remnant gas cloud, first to radioactive 56Co, and then to stable 56Fe. As such, iron is the most abundant element in the core of red giants, and is the most abundant metal in iron meteorites and in the dense metal cores of planets such as Earth.[22] It is also very common in the universe, relative to other stable metals of approximately the same atomic weight.[22][23] Iron is the sixth most abundant element in the universe, and the most common refractory element.[24]
Although a further tiny energy gain could be extracted by synthesizing 62Ni, which has a marginally higher binding energy than 56Fe, conditions in stars are unsuitable for this process. Element production in supernovas and distribution on Earth greatly favor iron over nickel, and in any case, 56Fe still has a lower mass per nucleon than 62Ni due to its higher fraction of lighter protons.[25] Hence, elements heavier than iron require a supernova for their formation, involving rapid neutron capture by starting 56Fe nuclei.[22]
In the far future of the universe, assuming that proton decay does not occur, cold fusion occurring via quantum tunnelling would cause the light nuclei in ordinary matter to fuse into 56Fe nuclei. Fission and alpha-particle emission would then make heavy nuclei decay into iron, converting all stellar-mass objects to cold spheres of pure iron.
Uses
Iron is an enigma – it rusts easily, yet it is the most important of all metals. 90% of all metal that is refined today is iron.
Most is used to manufacture steel, used in civil engineering (reinforced concrete, girders etc) and in manufacturing.
There are many different types of steel with different properties and uses. Ordinary carbon steel is an alloy of iron with carbon (from 0.1% for mild steel up to 2% for high carbon steels), with small amounts of other elements.
Alloy steels are carbon steels with other additives such as nickel, chromium, vanadium, tungsten and manganese. These are stronger and tougher than carbon steels and have a huge variety of applications including bridges, electricity pylons, bicycle chains, cutting tools and rifle barrels.
Stainless steel is very resistant to corrosion. It contains at least 10.5% chromium. Other metals such as nickel, molybdenum, titanium and copper are added to enhance its strength and workability. It is used in architecture, bearings, cutlery, surgical instruments and jewellery.
Cast iron contains 3–5% carbon. It is used for pipes, valves and pumps. It is not as tough as steel but it is cheaper. Magnets can be made of iron and its alloys and compounds.
Iron catalysts are used in the Haber process for producing ammonia, and in the Fischer–Tropsch process for converting syngas (hydrogen and carbon monoxide) into liquid fuels.
