Cast iron contains 3–5% carbon, and is used for making pipes, valves, and pumps.Automobile and heavy machinery producing industries employ iron as one of the main metals in their production processes.Metallic iron is widely used both as a pure metal and alloy in the manufacturing of tools, weapons, kitchen cookware, security systems, fencing, plumbing constructions, etc.This popular iron-carbon alloy is typically made with large quantities of iron and between 0.3 percent and 1.5 percent of carbon When combined with carbon, iron produces steel.

The mixture of aluminum powder and iron oxide can be ignited and used for purifying and welding ores.

Iron oxide pigments are used in the manufacturing of paver blocks, chequered tiles, designer tiles, colored concrete products, stamped concrete, mortar coloring, etc.

Iron and its compounds have numerous practical applications in almost every area of our living, which can be evidenced from the following instances: While China, Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, and Russia count among the top producers of iron in the world, the largest deposits of iron ores are excavated from Brazil, Australia, and Africa.Įlement 26 can easily be traced in the following minerals: The largest portion of the iron that occurs in the crust is found combined with oxygen in a form of iron oxide minerals, such as hematite (Fe2O3) and magnetite (Fe3O4).įor commercial purposes, iron oxides are mainly obtained from the minerals hematite, limonite, magnetite, pyrite, and goethite. Metallic or native iron is not often found on the surface of the Earth, due to its tendency to oxidize. Iron can also be traced in the meteors that consist of the iron-nickel minerals taenite (35–80% iron) and kamacite (90–95% iron). During its production in the Universe, nickel-56 decays to the most common isotope of iron during the last exothermic nuclear fusion reaction. Element 26 originates from the fusion in high-mass stars. In Earth’s crust, iron can be found in iron- nickel alloys. It’s also the sixth most abundant element in the Universe and the most common refractory element. Iron is the most abundant naturally occurring metal on Earth. Iron’s main application in those times was for building railways with iron rails, bridges, and tunnels. That’s how a new industrial era begins in which iron production becomes one of the main sources for the rapidly growing economy and industrialization. This prehistoric period that started between 1200 BC and 600 BC marks the time in history when people started using iron to make simple weapons and tools.ĭuring the 1850s, the scientists of the time discovered that iron becomes more durable if a little bit of carbon was added to it.

Though it’s been around since the formation of planet Earth, ancient civilizations didn’t utilize iron until some time around 2000 BC, when the Iron Age replaced the Bronze Era. In other words, this chemical element is older than our planet. When a supernova explodes, it scatters iron, oxygen, and carbon atoms all over outer space, and by the force of gravity, it lands on other planets, asteroids, and meteors. Exists in earth’s crust at about 25 ppm.Įlement 26 is one of the elements that have been born in the Universe by the supernova explosions of mass stars. Hard, ductile, lustrous bluish-gray metal. Iron black, dark gray, steel gray with metallic lusterįrom 1.89(49) milliseconds to 2.6 million years Chemical and Physical Properties of Iron Property

Fe element name