26 Fe Iron

Transition metal, mass: 55.845 u, 3 stable isotopes (56, 57, 58), ⁵⁴Fe is nearly stable. Abundance rank (earth/space): 4/9

Click image to magnify. Fragments of an iron meteorite, about 92% iron. Original size of the single pieces in cm: 0.4 - 0.8

Iron is a silvery metal, which is very abundant and is used for multiple purposes. Commonly it is alloyed together with carbon and other elements, to become steel. The number of different steels is very high, their characters vary over a wide span. Sometimes pure iron occurs in nature, but most is found in ores. Meteorites, that hit Earth's ground and don't evaporate before, often are iron meteorites. Iron can be seen as an energetic ideal state of matter. Smaller atoms can set energy free by fusion, larger atoms by fission, but from iron no nuclear energy can be won. Iron 56 and 58 and nickel 62 have the highest binding energy per nuclear particle. Very big stars form an iron core shortly before their final collapse and the following supernova. Iron is essential for mammals and makes our blood red. Iron is known to humanity since several millennia and has shaped our culture and civilization like no other element.


Left: rust, an old horseshoe, covered with black FeO and red Fe₂O₃.
Right: red hot iron is forged with hammer and anvil.


Left: cylinder of pure iron, 16 grams, 1 cm diameter.
Right: iron ore from the Grünten in southern Germany. 50 grams, 3.5 x 7 cm.


Left: High-alloyed steel knife made of approx. 84.5 % iron, 14 % chromium, 1 % carbon, 0.3 % molybdenum and 0.2 % nickel.
Right: An amethyst, SiO₂, with Fe impurities. Irradiation turned the Fe³⁺ ions into Fe⁴⁺, which in the crystal lattice causes a violet color. Also Fe₂O₃ and dendrites of manganese oxide are visible.

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