Iron is recognized as the fourth most important element in the Earth's crust and is one of the components and elements that make up the outer and inner core of the Earth, represented by the chemical symbol Fe and atomic number 26 in the periodic table.

Iron and its alloys are among the most commonly used and prevalent metals, characterized by smooth, shiny silver surfaces that appear gray, but when combined with oxygen in the air, they reveal a red or brown color.

Pure iron is a metal, but due to the presence of oxygen and moisture that combine with it, it oxidizes, making it less observable in its metallic or pure iron form on the Earth's surface. Therefore, to obtain iron metal, a method called chemical reduction is used to eliminate the oxygen contained in the ore, resulting in the emergence of iron metal.

Origin:

Iron is produced from hematite ore, represented by the symbol Fe2O3. This iron metal is separated in large furnaces at temperatures higher than 2000 degrees Celsius using the carbon reduction method, and iron metal is extracted.

The extraction of iron ore is generally carried out in 48 countries, with countries such as China, Brazil, Australia, Russia, and India being the five countries that extract and produce 70 percent of the world's iron ore.

Iron Ore

Iron is the sixth most abundant element in the world, but in the Earth's crust, it ranks fourth in abundance. Scientists believe that the Earth's core is largely composed of an iron-nickel alloy, which constitutes 35 percent of the total mass of the Earth. Therefore, for these reasons, iron is recognized as the most abundant element on Earth, and among metals, 95 percent of the metal produced is iron.

By utilizing the properties of iron and the application of other metals and combining them, we can achieve steel.

Transformations:

Iron may be the best-known example of transformations in a metal, existing in three allotropic forms named allotrope, austenite, and ferrite. This naming can be explained as follows: as molten iron slowly cools, at a temperature of 1538 degrees Celsius, it crystallizes into an allotrope known as delta iron, which has a body-centered cubic crystal structure. During further cooling, the crystal structure changes at a temperature of 1394 degrees Celsius to a face-centered cubic structure, which is named austenite or gamma iron, and at a temperature of 912 degrees Celsius, the crystalline structure becomes cubic again, which is referred to as ferrite or alpha iron, which has a crystallographic similarity to delta iron.

Applications:

Iron is recognized as the most common and widely used metal in the world, as it constitutes 95 percent of the metals produced globally. Its high resistance and low cost make it one of the cheapest metals, and it has always been used in the skeletons of buildings, the bodies of cars, and the hulls of large ships, etc.

In general, the products produced from raw iron can be categorized into the following groups:

Cast Iron: When raw iron is melted, it is poured into sand or metal molds and cooled, resulting in cast iron.

Wrought Iron: It differs significantly from cast iron, being softer, having higher tensile strength, and being used more in industry compared to cast iron. It is obtained by performing operations such as adding magnesium and iron silicate and crystallizing carbon on cast iron.

White Cast Iron: It is obtained from the cooling of molten iron, and the carbon in this cast iron is in the form of cementite. Its brittleness can also be reduced by softening it.

Worked Iron: In this case, iron is melted and formed into a spongy shape. To obtain this type of iron, impurities such as silicon, manganese, and carbon are refined.

Steel: It is an alloy of iron and carbon obtained through the properties of iron and other elements. When steel is produced, its stability and strength increase a hundredfold.

Scrap Iron: It refers to the remnants and scraps of steel.

Iron is one of the most common elements on Earth, constituting approximately 5% of the Earth's crust.

Iron is extracted from hematite ore, which is primarily Fe2O3. This metal is separated using the carbon reduction method, which is a more reactive element. This process occurs in a blast furnace at a temperature of approximately 2000 degrees Celsius.

In the year 2000, approximately 1100 million tons of iron ore were extracted, with a commercial value growth of approximately 25 billion US dollars. While iron ore extraction occurs in 48 countries, China, Brazil, Australia, Russia, and India account for the five largest producers, producing 70% of the world's iron ore. To produce approximately 572 million tons of raw iron, 1100 million tons of iron ore are required.

Notable Properties

The mass of a typical iron atom is 56 times that of a typical hydrogen atom. It is believed that iron is the tenth most abundant element in the world. Fe is the abbreviation of the Latin word ferrum for iron. This metal is extracted from iron ore and is rarely found in its free (elemental) state.

To obtain elemental iron, its impurities must be removed through chemical reduction. Iron is used to produce steel, which is not an element but an alloy and a mixture of different metals (and a number of non-metals, especially carbon). The nuclei of iron atoms have the highest binding force per nucleon, making iron the heaviest element produced through fusion and the lightest element produced through nuclear fission in a thermonuclear process.

When a star with sufficient mass does this, it can no longer produce energy in its core, leading to the formation of a supernova. Iron is considered the most common metal in the world. Cosmological patterns predict a time when, as a result of fusion and fission reactions, everything will turn into iron!

Applications

The application of iron is greater than that of all metals, constituting 95 percent of the metals produced worldwide. Its low price and high resistance make its use, especially in automobiles, the hulls of large ships, and buildings, inevitable. Steel is the most famous iron alloy, and several types of iron are described below:

Raw iron contains 4%-5% carbon and varying amounts of impurities such as sulfur, silicon, and phosphorus, and its significance lies in the fact that it is in the intermediate stage of the path from iron ore to cast iron and steel.

Cast iron contains 2%-3.5% carbon and a small amount of manganese. The impurities present in raw iron, such as sulfur and phosphorus, which negatively affect its properties, are reduced to an acceptable level in cast iron. The melting point of cast iron is between 1420-1470 K, which is lower than both of its main components, making it the first melted product after the simultaneous heating of carbon and iron. Cast iron is very strong, hard, and brittle. Even the used cast iron, such as white hot cast iron, can break objects.

Carbon steel contains 0.5%-1.5% carbon and small amounts of manganese, sulfur, phosphorus, and silicon.

Wrought iron (soft iron) contains less than 0.5% carbon and is a strong and malleable product, but it is not as meltable as raw iron. It contains very little carbon (a few tenths of a percent). If one edge is sharpened, it quickly loses its sharpness.

Alloy steels contain varying amounts of carbon plus other metals such as chromium, vanadium, molybdenum, nickel, tungsten, etc.

Iron oxides are used to make magnetic storage in computers. They are often mixed with other compounds and retain their magnetic properties in solution.

The most common oxidation states of iron are:

Ferrous state 2+Fe

Ferric state 3+Fe

Ferryl state 4+Fe, which is stabilized by several enzymes (e.g., peroxidases).

Iron (VI) is also known (although it is rare). If it is in the form of potassium ferrate (K2FeO), it is a selective oxidizer for primary alcohols. This solid is only stable under vacuum and dark purple conditions, both as a caustic solution and as a solid material.

Iron carbide Fe3C is known as cementite.

Biology

Iron is the main atom of the heme molecule (part of red blood cells) and is therefore an essential component of all hemoproteins. For this reason, the presence of this element is vital in animals. Inorganic iron is also found in iron-sulfur chains of many enzymes. Bacteria often utilize iron. When the body is fighting a bacterial infection, it hides this element to prevent bacteria from accessing iron.

Isotopes

Iron naturally has four stable isotopes: Fe-54, Fe-56, Fe-57, and Fe-58. The relative abundance of iron isotopes in nature is approximately Fe-54 5.8%, Fe-56 91.7%, Fe-57 2.2%, and Fe-58 0.3%. Fe-60, which is a non-active radioactive nuclide, has a half-life of 5.1 million years. Most past efforts to measure the isotopic compositions of iron have focused on determining the various types of Fe-60 due to processes associated with nucleosynthesis (such as studies of meteorites) and mineral formation.

At various stages, meteorites Semarkona and Chervony Kut can be correlated between the concentration of Ni-nickel|60 (the product of the Fe-60 supernova) and the abundance of stable iron isotopes, which provides evidence for the existence of iron 60 at the time of the solar system's formation. The energy released by the decay of iron 60, along with the energy released from the decay of the radioactive nuclide Al-26, likely influenced the re-melting and separation of supernova remnants after their formation 4.6 billion years ago. The abundance of Ni-60 in extraterrestrial materials may also provide more insight into the origin of the solar system and its early history.

Among the stable isotopes, only iron 57 has a nuclear spin of (1/2-). For this reason, iron 57 is used in chemistry and biochemistry as a spin isotope.

Warnings

Excessive consumption of dietary iron can cause toxicity, as a large amount of ferrous iron reacts with body peroxides, producing free radicals. When the amount of iron in the body is normal, the body's antioxidant mechanisms can control this process. If the amount of iron exceeds normal levels, uncontrollable amounts of free radicals are produced.

The lethal amount of iron for a two-year-old child is approximately 3 grams, and one gram can cause serious poisoning. There are reports of poisoning in children due to the consumption of 10 to 50 iron sulfate tablets in a short period. Excessive iron consumption from accidental ingestion of medications is a serious cause of mortality in children. Uncontrollable increases in iron in the body lead to a disease called hemochromatosis. Excess iron accumulates in the liver, causing siderosis and organ damage. For this reason, individuals who do not have iron deficiency should not take iron supplements.

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