Iron Guide

Iron (US pronunciation: /aɪ.ərn/, with two syllables, and UK pronunciation: /ˈaɪərn/, with one), is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Fe (Latin: ferrum) and atomic number 26. Iron is a group 8 and period 4 element and is therefore classified as a transition metal. Iron and iron alloys (steels) are by far the most common metals and the most common ferromagnetic materials in everyday use. Fresh iron surfaces appear lustrous silvery-gray, but oxidize in air. Pure iron is soft (softer than aluminium), but the material is significantly strengthened by addition of minute amounts of impurities, such as carbon.

Iron is the most common element in the earth, albeit the fourth most common one in the earth's crust. It is produced as a result of stellar fusion in stars. Iron is the most widely used metal, and iron compounds, which include ferrous and ferric compounds, have several uses as well.

Alloying iron with appropriate small amounts (up to a few per cent) of other metals and carbon produces steel, which can be 1,000 times harder than pure iron. Iron is produced in a blast furnace, where ore is reduced by coke to metallic iron. Iron has been used since ancient times, though not as early as bronze or the other copper related alloys.

Iron plays an important role in biology as part of hemoglobin, the oxygen transfer protein in blood. Iron becomes toxic in large amounts, though....