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{{About|the metallic element}} | |||
{{otheruses}} | |||
{{Good article}} | |||
{{Elementbox_header | number=26 | symbol=Fe | name=iron | left=] | right=] | above=- | below=] | color1=#ffc0c0 | color2=black }} | |||
{{Pp|small=yes}} | |||
{{Elementbox_series | ]s }} | |||
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} | |||
{{Elementbox_groupperiodblock | group=8 | period=4 | block=d }} | |||
{{Infobox iron}} | |||
{{Elementbox_appearance_img | Fe,26| lustrous metallic <br />with a grayish tinge }} | |||
{{Elementbox_atomicmass_gpm | 55.845] }} | |||
{{Elementbox_econfig | []] 4s<sup>2</sup> 3d<sup>6</sup> }} | |||
{{Elementbox_epershell | 2, 8, 14, 2 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_section_physicalprop | color1=#ffc0c0 | color2=black }} | |||
{{Elementbox_phase | ] }} | |||
{{Elementbox_density_gpcm3nrt | 7.86 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_densityliq_gpcm3mp | 6.98 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_meltingpoint | k=1811 | c=1538 | f=2800 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_boilingpoint | k=3134 | c=2861 | f=5182 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_heatfusion_kjpmol | 13.81 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_heatvaporiz_kjpmol | 340 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_heatcapacity_jpmolkat25 | 25.10 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_vaporpressure_katpa | 1728 | 1890 | 2091 | 2346 | 2679 | 3132 | comment= }} | |||
{{Elementbox_section_atomicprop | color1=#ffc0c0 | color2=black }} | |||
{{Elementbox_crystalstruct | 1=]<br />a=286.65 pm;<ref>http://www.webelements.com/webelements/elements/text/Fe/xtal.html</ref><br />]<br />between 1185–1667 K }} | |||
{{Elementbox_oxistates | 2, '''3''', 4, 6<br />(] oxide) }} | |||
{{Elementbox_electroneg_pauling | 1.83 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_ionizationenergies4 | 762.5 | 1561.9 | 2957 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_atomicradius_pm | 140 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_atomicradiuscalc_pm | 156 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_covalentradius_pm | 125 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_section_miscellaneous | color1=#ffc0c0 | color2=black }} | |||
{{Elementbox_magnetic | ] }} | |||
{{Elementbox_eresist_ohmmat20 | 96.1 n}} | |||
{{Elementbox_thermalcond_wpmkat300k | 80.4 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_thermalexpansion_umpmkat25 | 11.8 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_speedofsound_rodmpsatrt | (electrolytic)<br />5120 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_youngsmodulus_gpa | 211 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_shearmodulus_gpa | 82 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_bulkmodulus_gpa | 170 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_poissonratio | 0.29 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_mohshardness | 4.0 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_vickershardness_mpa | 608 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_brinellhardness_mpa | 490 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_cas_number | 7439-89-6 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_isotopes_begin | color1=#ffc0c0 | color2=black }} | |||
{{Elementbox_isotopes_decay | mn=54 | sym=Fe | na=5.8% | hl=>3.1×10<sup>22</sup>] | dm=2ε capture |de=? | pn=54 | ps=] }} | |||
{{Elementbox_isotopes_decay | mn=55 | sym=Fe | na=] | hl=2.73 y | dm=ε capture | de=0.231 | pn=55 | ps=] }} | |||
{{Elementbox_isotopes_stable | mn=56 | sym=Fe | na=91.72% | n=30 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_isotopes_stable | mn=57 | sym=Fe | na=2.2% | n=31 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_isotopes_stable | mn=58 | sym=Fe | na=0.28% | n=32 }} | |||
{{Elementbox_isotopes_decay | mn=59 | sym=Fe | na=] | hl=44.503 d | dm=] | de=1.565 | pn=59 | ps=] }} | |||
{{Elementbox_isotopes_decay | mn=60 | sym=Fe | na=] | hl=1.5×10<sup>6</sup> y | dm=]<sup>-</sup> | de=3.978 | pn=60 | ps=] }} | |||
{{Elementbox_isotopes_end}} | |||
{{Elementbox_footer | color1=#ffc0c0 | color2=black }} | |||
'''Iron''' |
'''Iron''' is a ]; it has the ] '''Fe''' ({{etymology|la|{{wikt-lang|la|ferrum}}|iron}}) and ] 26. It is a ] that belongs to the ] and ] of the ]. It is, by mass, the ] on ], forming much of Earth's ] and ]. It is the fourth most ] in the ], being mainly deposited by ]s in its metallic state. | ||
Extracting usable metal from ]s requires ]s or ]s capable of reaching {{convert|1500|C}}, about {{convert|500|C}} higher than that required to ] ]. Humans started to master that process in ] during the ] and the use of iron ]s and ]s began to displace ] – in some regions, only around 1200 BC. That event is considered the transition from the ] to the ]. In the ], iron alloys, such as ], ], ] and ], are by far the most common industrial metals, due to their mechanical properties and low cost. The ] is thus very important economically, and iron is the cheapest metal, with a price of a few dollars per kilogram or pound. | |||
Pristine and smooth pure iron surfaces are a mirror-like silvery-gray. Iron reacts readily with oxygen and ] to produce brown-to-black ]d ]s, commonly known as ]. Unlike the oxides of some other metals that form ] layers, rust occupies more volume than the metal and thus flakes off, exposing more fresh surfaces for corrosion. Chemically, the most common oxidation states of iron are ] and ]. Iron shares many properties of other transition metals, including the other ]s, ] and ]. Iron forms compounds in a wide range of ]s, −4 to +7. Iron also forms many ]s; some of them, such as ], ], and ] have substantial industrial, medical, or research applications. | |||
The body of an adult human contains about 4 grams (0.005% body weight) of iron, mostly in ] and ]. These two ]s play essential roles in ] by ] and oxygen storage in ]s. To maintain the necessary levels, ] requires a minimum of iron in the diet. Iron is also the metal at the active site of many important ] ] dealing with ] and ] in plants and animals<!--", ] synthesis, and ]." : citation is needed-->.<ref name="lpi">{{cite web |title=Iron |url=https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/minerals/iron |publisher=Micronutrient Information Center, Linus Pauling Institute, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon |access-date=6 March 2018|date=April 2016}}</ref> | |||
==Characteristics== | ==Characteristics== | ||
===Allotropes=== | |||
Iron is believed to be the tenth most ] in the ], and fourth most abundant on earth. The concentration of iron in the various layers in the ] ranges from high (probably greater than 80%, perhaps even a nearly pure iron crystal) at the inner core, to only 5% in the outer crust. Iron is second in abundance to ] among the metals and fourth in abundance in the crust. Iron is the most abundant element by mass of our entire planet, making up 35% of the mass of the Earth as a whole. i went poo last night. | |||
{{Main|Allotropes of iron}} | |||
] | |||
At least four allotropes of iron (differing atom arrangements in the solid) are known, conventionally denoted ], ], ], and ]. | |||
Iron is a ] extracted from ], and is almost never found in the free elemental state. In order to obtain elemental iron, the impurities must be removed by chemical ]. Iron is the main component of ], and it is used in the production of ]s or ]s of various metals, as well as some non-metals, particularly ]. The many iron-carbon alloys, which have very different properties, are discussed in the article on ]. | |||
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 ] (bcc) ]. As it cools further to 1394 °C, it changes to its γ-iron allotrope, a ] (fcc) crystal structure, or ]. At 912 °C and below, the crystal structure again becomes the bcc α-iron allotrope.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1075–79}} | |||
Nuclei of iron have some of the highest binding energies per nucleon, surpassed only by the ] ] <sup>62</sup>Ni. The universally most abundant of the highly stable nuclides is, however, <sup>56</sup>Fe. This is formed by nuclear fusion in stars. Although a further tiny energy gain could be extracted by synthesizing <sup>62</sup>Ni, conditions in stars are unsuitable for this process to be favoured, and iron abundance on Earth greatly favors iron over nickel, and also presumably in supernova element production. {{Fact|date=February 2007}} When a very large ] contracts at the end of its life, internal pressure and temperature rise, allowing the star to produce progressively heavier elements, despite these being less stable than the elements around mass number 60, known as the "iron group". This leads to a ]. | |||
The physical properties of iron at very high pressures and temperatures have also been studied extensively,<ref name="phase-dia-iron-eicore">{{Cite journal|vauthors=Tateno S, Hirose K |title=The Structure of Iron in Earth's Inner Core| journal=Science| volume=330| pages=359–361| publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science| date=2010| doi=10.1126/science.1194662| issue=6002| pmid=20947762| bibcode=2010Sci...330..359T| s2cid=206528628}}</ref><ref name="fe-innercore-stability">{{Cite journal| first=Gaminchev| last=Chamati| title=Dynamic stability of Fe under high pressure| journal=Journal of Physics| volume=558| pages=012013| publisher=IOP Publishing| date=2014| doi=10.1088/1742-6596/558/1/012013| issue=1| bibcode=2014JPhCS.558a2013G| doi-access=free}}</ref> 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 ] (hcp) structure, which is also known as ]. The higher-temperature γ-phase also changes into ε-iron,<ref name="fe-innercore-stability">{{Cite journal| first=Gaminchev| last=Chamati| title=Dynamic stability of Fe under high pressure| journal=Journal of Physics| volume=558| pages=012013| publisher=IOP Publishing| date=2014| doi=10.1088/1742-6596/558/1/012013| issue=1| bibcode=2014JPhCS.558a2013G| doi-access=free}}</ref> but does so at higher pressure. | |||
Some cosmological models with an open universe predict that there will be a phase where as a result of slow fusion and fission reactions, everything will become iron.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} | |||
Some controversial experimental evidence exists for a stable ] phase at pressures above 50 GPa and temperatures of at least 1500 K. It is supposed to have an ] or a double hcp structure.<ref name="beta-iron">{{Cite journal| first=Reinhard| last=Boehler| title=High-pressure experiments and the phase diagram of lower mantle and core materials| journal =Reviews of Geophysics| volume=38| pages=221–45| publisher=American Geophysical Union| date=2000| doi=10.1029/1998RG000053| issue=2| bibcode=2000RvGeo..38..221B| s2cid=33458168| doi-access=free}}</ref> (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.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1075–79}}) | |||
Iron (as Fe<sup>2+</sup>, ferrous ion) is a necessary ] used by all known living organisms. Iron-containing enzymes, usually containing ] prosthetic groups, participate in catalysis of oxidation reactions in biology, and in transport of a number of soluble gases. See ], ], and ]. | |||
The ] is generally presumed to consist of an iron-] ] with ε (or β) structure.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Stixrude |first1=Lars |last2=Wasserman |first2=Evgeny |last3=Cohen |first3=Ronald E. |date=1997-11-10 |title=Composition and temperature of Earth's inner core |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth |volume=102 |issue=B11 |pages=24729–39 |doi=10.1029/97JB02125 |bibcode=1997JGR...10224729S |doi-access=free}}</ref> | |||
== Applications == | |||
Iron is the most used of all the metals, comprising 95% of all the metal tonnage produced worldwide. Its combination of low cost and high strength make it indispensable, especially in applications like ]s, the ]s of large ]s, and structural components for ]s. ] is the best known alloy of iron, and some of the forms that iron can take include: | |||
===Melting and boiling points=== | |||
* ] has 4% – 5% carbon and contains varying amounts of contaminants such as ], ] and ]. Its only significance is that of an intermediate step on the way from ] to ] and ]. | |||
] of pure iron]] | |||
* ] contains 2% – 4.0% ] , 1% – 6% ] , and small amounts of ]. Contaminants present in pig iron that negatively affect the material properties, such as sulfur and phosphorus, have been reduced to an acceptable level. It has a melting point in the range of 1420–1470 K, which is lower than either of its two main components, and makes it the first product to be melted when carbon and iron are heated together. Its mechanical properties vary greatly, dependent upon the form ] takes in the alloy. 'White' cast irons contain their carbon in the form of ], or iron carbide. This hard, brittle compound dominates the mechanical properties of white cast irons, rendering them hard, but unresistant to shock. The broken surface of a white cast iron is full of fine facets of the broken carbide, a very pale, silvery, shiny material, hence the appellation. In ] the carbon exists free as fine flakes of ], and also renders the material brittle due to the stress-raising nature of the sharp edged flakes of graphite. A newer variant of grey iron, referred to as ] is specially treated with trace amounts of ] to alter the shape of graphite to spheroids, or nodules, vastly increasing the toughness and strength of the material. | |||
The melting and boiling points of iron, along with its ], are lower than those of the earlier 3d elements from ] to ], 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;{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1116}} however, they are higher than the values for the previous element ] because that element has a half-filled 3d sub-shell and consequently its d-electrons are not easily delocalized. This same trend appears for ] but not ].{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1074–75}} | |||
* ] contains between 0.4% and 1.5% ], with small amounts of ], ], ], and ]. | |||
* ] contains less than 0.2% carbon. It is a tough, malleable product, not as fusible as pig iron. It has a very small amount of carbon, a few tenths of a percent. If honed to an edge, it loses it quickly. Wrought iron is characterised, especially in old samples, by the presence of fine 'stringers' or filaments of ] entrapped in the metal. Wrought iron does not ] particularly quickly when used outdoors. It has largely been replaced by ] for "wrought iron" gates and ]ing. Mild steel does not have the same corrosion resistance but is cheaper and more widely available. | |||
* ]s contain varying amounts of carbon as well as other metals, such as ], ], ], ], ], etc. They are used for structural purposes, as their alloy content raises their cost and necessitates justification of their use. Recent developments in ferrous metallurgy have produced a growing range of microalloyed steels, also termed 'HSLA' or high-strength, low alloy steels, containing tiny additions to produce high strengths and often spectacular toughness at minimal cost. | |||
* ]s are used in the production of ] media in computers. They are often mixed with other compounds, and retain their magnetic properties in solution. | |||
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.<ref name="melting">{{Cite book| pages=527–41 |doi=10.1016/B978-044452748-6.00047-X|title =Mineral Physics|first1 = Reinhard|last1 = Boehler|first2= M.|last2 = Ross|chapter = Properties of Rocks and Minerals_High-Pressure Melting|publisher = Elsevier| date = 2007| series = Treatise on Geophysics| volume = 2|isbn=9780444527486}}</ref> | |||
The main drawback to iron and steel is that pure iron, and most of its alloys, suffer badly from ] if not protected in some way. ]ing, ], plastic coating and ] are some techniques used to protect iron from rust by excluding ] and ] or by sacrificial protection. | |||
=== |
===Magnetic properties=== | ||
] | |||
:''See also ].'' | |||
Below its ] of {{Convert|770|C|F K|abbr=on}}, α-iron changes from ] to ]: the ] of the two unpaired electrons in each atom generally align with the spins of its neighbors, creating an overall ].<ref name="cullity">{{cite book |last=Cullity |author2=C. D. Graham |title=Introduction to Magnetic Materials, 2nd|publisher=Wiley–IEEE|year=2008 |location=New York |page=116 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ixAe4qIGEmwC&pg=PA116 |isbn=978-0-471-47741-9}}</ref> This happens because the orbitals of those two electrons (d<sub>''z''<sup>2</sup></sub> and d<sub>''x''<sup>2</sup> − ''y''<sup>2</sup></sub>) do not point toward neighboring atoms in the lattice, and therefore are not involved in metallic bonding.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1075–79}} | |||
In the absence of an external source of magnetic field, the atoms get spontaneously partitioned into ]s, about 10 micrometers across,<ref name="Metallo">{{Cite book| chapter-url={{Google books|hoM8VJHTt24C|page=PA24|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|pages=24–28|title =Metallographer's guide: practice and procedures for irons and steels|first1 = B.L.|last1 = Bramfitt|first2= Arlan O.|last2 = Benscoter|chapter = The Iron Carbon Phase Diagram|publisher = ASM International| date = 2002| isbn = 978-0-87170-748-2}}</ref><!--https://books.google.com/books?id=brpx-LtdCLYC--> 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. | |||
] | |||
* Iron(III) acetate (Fe(C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>3</sub>O<sub>2</sub>)<sub>3</sub> is used in the ]ing of ]. | |||
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 need to channel magnetic fields to fulfill design function, such as ]s, ] heads, and ]s. Impurities, ]s, 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) ].<ref name="cullity" /> | |||
* Iron(III) ammonium oxalate (Fe(NH<sub>4</sub>)<sub>3</sub>(C<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub>)<sub>4</sub>) is used in ]s. | |||
Similar behavior is exhibited by some iron compounds, such as the ] including the mineral ], a crystalline form of the mixed iron(II,III) oxide {{chem2|Fe3O4}} (although the atomic-scale mechanism, ], is somewhat different). Pieces of magnetite with natural permanent magnetization (]s) provided the earliest ]es for navigation. Particles of magnetite were extensively used in magnetic recording media such as ], ]s, ], and ]s, until they were replaced by ]-based materials. | |||
* Iron(III) arsenate (FeAsO<sub>4</sub>) is used in ]. | |||
===Isotopes=== | |||
* ] (FeCl<sub>3</sub>) is used: in ] purification and sewage treatment, in the ]ing of cloth, as a coloring agent in ]s, as an ] in animal feed, and as an etching material for engravement, ] and printed circuits. | |||
{{Main|Isotopes of iron}} | |||
Iron has four stable ]s: <sup>54</sup>Fe (5.845% of natural iron), ] (91.754%), <sup>57</sup>Fe (2.119%) and <sup>58</sup>Fe (0.282%). Twenty-four artificial isotopes have also been created. Of these stable isotopes, only <sup>57</sup>Fe has a ] (−{{frac|1|2}}). The ] <sup>54</sup>Fe theoretically can undergo ] to <sup>54</sup>Cr, but the process has never been observed and only a lower limit on the half-life of 4.4×10<sup>20</sup> years has been established.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Bikit | first1=I. | last2=Krmar | first2=M. | last3=Slivka | first3=J. | last4=Vesković | first4=M. | last5=Čonkić | first5=Lj. | last6=Aničin | first6=I. | title=New results on the double β decay of iron | journal=Physical Review C | volume=58 | issue=4 | date=1998-10-01 | issn=0556-2813 | doi=10.1103/PhysRevC.58.2566 | pages=2566–2567| bibcode=1998PhRvC..58.2566B }}</ref> | |||
<sup>60</sup>Fe is an ] of long ] (2.6 million years).<ref name="RugelFaestermann2009">{{cite journal |last1=Rugel |first1=G. |last2=Faestermann |first2=T. |last3=Knie |first3=K. |last4=Korschinek |first4=G. |last5=Poutivtsev |first5=M. |last6=Schumann |first6=D. |last7=Kivel |first7=N. |last8=Günther-Leopold |first8=I. |last9=Weinreich |first9=R.|last10=Wohlmuther |first10=M. |title=New Measurement of the <sup>60</sup>Fe Half-Life |journal=Physical Review Letters |volume=103 |issue=7 |page=072502 |date=2009 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.072502 |pmid=19792637 |bibcode=2009PhRvL.103g2502R |url=https://www.dora.lib4ri.ch/psi/islandora/object/psi%3A17743/datastream/PDF/view}}</ref> It is not found on Earth, but its ultimate decay product is its granddaughter, the stable nuclide ].{{NUBASE2020|ref}} Much of the past work on isotopic composition of iron has focused on the ] of <sup>60</sup>Fe through studies of ]s and ore formation. In the last decade, advances in ] have allowed the detection and quantification of minute, naturally occurring variations in the ratios of the ]s of iron. Much of this work is driven by the ] and ] communities, although applications to biological and industrial systems are emerging.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Dauphas|first1=N.|last2=Rouxel|first2=O.|date=2006|title=Mass spectrometry and natural variations of iron isotopes|journal=Mass Spectrometry Reviews |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=515–50 |doi=10.1002/mas.20078 |url=https://geosci.uchicago.edu/~dauphas/OLwebsite/PDFfiles/Dauphas_Rouxel_MSR06.pdf |pmid=16463281 |bibcode=2006MSRv...25..515D |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610095913/https://geosci.uchicago.edu/~dauphas/OLwebsite/PDFfiles/Dauphas_Rouxel_MSR06.pdf |archive-date=10 June 2010}}</ref> | |||
* Iron(III) chromate (Fe<sub>2</sub>(CrO<sub>4</sub>)<sub>3</sub>) is used as a yellow pigment for ]s and ]. | |||
In phases of the meteorites ''Semarkona'' and ''Chervony Kut,'' a correlation between the concentration of <sup>60</sup>Ni, the ] of <sup>60</sup>Fe, and the abundance of the stable iron isotopes provided evidence for the existence of <sup>60</sup>Fe at the time of ]. Possibly the energy released by the decay of <sup>60</sup>Fe, along with that released by ], contributed to the remelting and ] of ]s after their formation 4.6 billion years ago. The abundance of <sup>60</sup>Ni present in ] material may bring further insight into the origin and early history of the ].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Evidence for live 60Fe in meteorites |date=2004 |last1=Mostefaoui |first1=S. |last2=Lugmair |first2=G.W. |last3=Hoppe |first3=P. |last4=El Goresy |first4=A. |journal=New Astronomy Reviews |volume=48 |issue=1–4 |pages=155–59 |doi=10.1016/j.newar.2003.11.022 |bibcode=2004NewAR..48..155M}}</ref> | |||
* ] (Fe(OH)<sub>3</sub>) is used as a brown ] for ] and in water purification systems. | |||
The most abundant iron isotope <sup>56</sup>Fe is of particular interest to nuclear scientists because it represents the most common endpoint of ].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Fewell|first1=M. P.|title=The atomic nuclide with the highest mean binding energy |journal=American Journal of Physics|volume=63|issue=7 |page=653|date=1995|doi=10.1119/1.17828 |bibcode=1995AmJPh..63..653F}}</ref> Since <sup>56</sup>Ni (14 ]s) is easily produced from lighter nuclei in the ] in ]s in supernovae (see ]), it is the endpoint of fusion chains inside ]. Although adding more alpha particles is possible, but nonetheless the sequence does effectively end at <sup>56</sup>Ni because conditions in stellar interiors cause the competition between ] and the alpha process to favor photodisintegration around <sup>56</sup>Ni.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fewell |first=M.P. |date=1995-07-01 |title=The atomic nuclide with the highest mean binding energy |journal=American Journal of Physics |volume=63 |issue=7 |pages=653–658 |doi=10.1119/1.17828 |bibcode=1995AmJPh..63..653F |issn=0002-9505}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Burbidge |first1=E. Margaret |author-link1=Margaret Burbidge |last2=Burbidge |first2=G.R. |author-link2=Geoffrey Burbidge |last3=Fowler |first3=William A. |author-link3=William Alfred Fowler |last4=Hoyle |first4=F. |author-link4=Fred Hoyle |date=1957-10-01 |title=Synthesis of the elements in stars |journal=Reviews of Modern Physics |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=547–650 |bibcode=1957RvMP...29..547B |doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.29.547 |doi-access=free}}</ref> This <sup>56</sup>Ni, 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 ] gas cloud, first to radioactive <sup>56</sup>Co, and then to stable <sup>56</sup>Fe. As such, iron is the most abundant element in the core of ]s, and is the most abundant metal in ]s and in the dense metal ] such as ].{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=12}} It is also very common in the universe, relative to other stable ] of approximately the same ].{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=12}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Woosley |first1=S. |last2=Janka |first2=T. |title=The physics of core collapse supernovae |year=2006 |arxiv=astro-ph/0601261 |doi=10.1038/nphys172 |volume=1 |issue=3 |journal=Nature Physics |pages=147–54| bibcode=2005NatPh...1..147W |s2cid=118974639}}</ref> Iron is the sixth most ] in the ], and the most common ] element.<ref name="apjl717_2_L92">{{cite journal | |||
* ] (FePO<sub>4</sub>) is used in ] and as an ] and human and animal food. | |||
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| doi=10.1088/2041-8205/717/2/L92 | bibcode=2010ApJ...717L..92M |arxiv = 1005.3489 | s2cid=14437704 }}</ref> | |||
] ] for iron]] | |||
* ] (Fe(C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>3</sub>O<sub>2</sub>)<sub>2</sub> is used in the dyeing of fabrics and ], and as a ] preservative. | |||
Although a further tiny energy gain could be extracted by synthesizing ], which has a marginally higher binding energy than <sup>56</sup>Fe, conditions in stars are unsuitable for this process. Element production in supernovas greatly favor iron over nickel, and in any case, <sup>56</sup>Fe still has a lower mass per nucleon than <sup>62</sup>Ni due to its higher fraction of lighter protons.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Iron and Nickel Abundances in H~II Regions and Supernova Remnants |date=1995 |bibcode=1995AAS...186.3707B |last1=Bautista |first1= Manuel A. |last2=Pradhan |first2=Anil K. |journal=Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society |volume=27 |page=865}}</ref> Hence, elements heavier than iron require a ] for their formation, involving ] by starting <sup>56</sup>Fe nuclei.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=12}} | |||
* ] (Fe(C<sub>6</sub>H<sub>11</sub>O<sub>7</sub>)<sub>2</sub>) is used as a dietary supplement in ]s. | |||
In the ] of the universe, assuming that ] does not occur, cold ] occurring via ] would cause the light nuclei in ordinary matter to fuse into <sup>56</sup>Fe nuclei. Fission and ] would then make heavy nuclei decay into iron, converting all stellar-mass objects to cold spheres of pure iron.<ref name="twoe">{{cite journal |title=Time without end: Physics and biology in an open universe |first=Freeman J. |last=Dyson |journal=] |volume=51 |issue=3 |year=1979 |pages=447–60 |doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.51.447 |bibcode = 1979RvMP...51..447D }}</ref> | |||
* Iron(II) oxalate (FeC<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub>) is used as yellow ] for ]s, ]s, ] and ], and in ]. | |||
==Origin and occurrence in nature== | |||
* ] (FeSO<sub>4</sub>) is used in ] purification and sewage treatment systems, as a ] in the production of ], as an ingredient in ] and ], as an ] in animal feed, in ] preservative and as an ] to ] to increase iron levels. | |||
===Cosmogenesis=== | |||
Iron's abundance in ] like Earth is due to its abundant production during the runaway fusion and explosion of type ], which scatters the iron into space.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aron |first=Jacob |title=Supernova space bullets could have seeded Earth's iron core |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27570-supernova-space-bullets-could-have-seeded-earths-iron-core/ |access-date=2020-10-02 |website=New Scientist |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Croswell |first=Ken |title=Iron in the Fire: The Little-Star Supernovae That Could |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/little-star-supernovae-that-could-dwarf-stars/ |access-date=2021-01-03 |website=Scientific American |language=en}}</ref> | |||
== |
===Metallic iron=== | ||
])]] | |||
Metallic or ] is rarely found on the surface of the Earth because it tends to oxidize. However, both the Earth's ] and ], which together account for 35% of the mass of the whole Earth, are believed to consist largely of an iron alloy, possibly with ]. Electric currents in the liquid outer core are believed to be the origin of the ]. The other ]s (], ], and ]) as well as the ] are believed to have a metallic core consisting mostly of iron. The ]s are also believed to be partly or mostly made of metallic iron alloy. | |||
The rare ]s are the main form of natural metallic iron on the Earth's surface. Items made of ] meteoritic iron have been found in various archaeological sites dating from a time when iron smelting had not yet been developed; and the ] in ] have been reported to use iron from the ] for tools and hunting weapons.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Buchwald |first= V F| title = On the Use of Iron by the Eskimos in Greenland| journal = Materials Characterization| volume = 29| issue = 2| year = 1992 | pages = 139–176 | doi = 10.1016/1044-5803(92)90112-U }}</ref> About 1 in 20 ]s consist of the unique iron-nickel minerals ] (35–80% iron) and ] (90–95% iron).<ref>{{Cite book |url={{Google books|QDU7AAAAIAAJ|page=PA152|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |page=152 |title=Planet earth: cosmology, geology, and the evolution of life and environment |publisher=Cambridge University Press|first=Cesare|last=Emiliani |date=1992 |isbn=978-0-521-40949-0 |bibcode=1992pecg.book.....E}}</ref> Native iron is also rarely found in basalts that have formed from magmas that have come into contact with carbon-rich sedimentary rocks, which have reduced the oxygen ] sufficiently for iron to crystallize. This is known as ] and is described from a few localities, such as ] in West Greenland, ] in ] and ] in ].<ref name="Pernet-Fisher_etal_2017">{{Cite journal |last1=Pernet-Fisher |first1=J. |last2=Day |first2=J.M.D. |last3=Howarth |first3=G.H. |last4=Ryabov |first4=V.V. |last5=Taylor |first5=L.A. |date=2017 |title=Atmospheric outgassing and native-iron formation during carbonaceous sediment–basalt melt interactions |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312455203 |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |volume=460 |pages=201–212 |doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2016.12.022|bibcode=2017E&PSL.460..201P |doi-access=free }}</ref> | |||
===Mantle minerals=== | |||
] {{chem2|(Mg,Fe)O}}, a solid solution of ] (MgO) and ] (FeO), makes up about 20% of the volume of the ] of the Earth, which makes it the second most abundant mineral phase in that region after ] {{chem2|(Mg,Fe)SiO3}}; it also is the major host for iron in the lower mantle.<ref>Stark, Anne M. (20 September 2007) . ]</ref> At the bottom of the ] of the mantle, the reaction γ-{{chem2|(Mg,Fe)2 ↔ (Mg,Fe) + (Mg,Fe)O}} transforms ] into a mixture of silicate perovskite and ferropericlase and vice versa. In the literature, this mineral phase of the lower mantle is also often called magnesiowüstite.<ref name="Ferro">. Mindat.org</ref> ] may form up to 93% of the lower mantle,<ref name="Murakami">{{cite journal |last=Murakami |first=M. |author2=Ohishi Y. |author3=Hirao N. |author4=Hirose K. |year=2012 |title=A perovskitic lower mantle inferred from high-pressure, high-temperature sound velocity data |journal=Nature |volume=485 |issue=7396 |pages=90–94|bibcode=2012Natur.485...90M |doi=10.1038/nature11004 |pmid=22552097 |s2cid=4387193}}</ref> and the magnesium iron form, {{chem2|(Mg,Fe)SiO3}}, is considered to be the most abundant ] in the Earth, making up 38% of its volume.<ref name="Sharp">{{cite journal|last1=Sharp|first1=T.|title=Bridgmanite – named at last |journal=Science |date=27 November 2014 |volume=346 |issue=6213 |pages=1057–58 |doi=10.1126/science.1261887 |pmid=25430755 |bibcode=2014Sci...346.1057S |s2cid=206563252}}</ref> | |||
===Earth's crust=== | |||
]]] | |||
While iron is the most abundant element on Earth, most of this iron is concentrated in the ] and ] cores.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Kong|first1=L. T.|last2=Li|first2=J. F.|last3=Shi|first3=Q. W.|last4=Huang|first4=H. J.|last5=Zhao|first5=K.|date=2012-03-06|title=Dynamical stability of iron under high-temperature and high-pressure conditions|journal=EPL|volume=97|issue=5|pages=56004p1–56004p5|doi=10.1209/0295-5075/97/56004|bibcode=2012EL.....9756004K|s2cid=121861429 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Gaminchev|first1=K. G.|last2=Chamati|first2=H.|date=2014-12-03|title=Dynamic stability of Fe under high pressure|journal=J. Phys.|volume=558|issue=1|pages=012013(1–7)|doi=10.1088/1742-6596/558/1/012013|bibcode=2014JPhCS.558a2013G|doi-access=free}}</ref> The fraction of iron that is in ] only amounts to about 5% of the overall mass of the crust and is thus only the fourth most abundant element in that layer (after ], ], and ]).<ref>{{Cite journal|name-list-style=amp|date=1980|title=Chemical composition of Earth, Venus, and Mercury|journal=]|volume=77|issue=12|pages=6973–77|bibcode=1980PNAS...77.6973M|doi=10.1073/pnas.77.12.6973|pmc=350422|pmid=16592930|last1=Morgan |first1= John W. |last2=Anders |first2= Edward |doi-access=free}}</ref> | |||
Most of the iron in the crust is combined with various other elements to form many ]. An important class is the ] minerals such as ] (Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>), ] (Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub>), and ] (FeCO<sub>3</sub>), which are the major ]. Many ]s also contain the sulfide minerals ] and ].<ref name="mindat">{{cite web|url=https://www.mindat.org/min-3328.html |publisher=Mindat.org| title=Pyrrhotite|access-date=2009-07-07}}</ref><ref name="Klein">Klein, Cornelis and Cornelius S. Hurlbut, Jr. (1985) ''Manual of Mineralogy,'' Wiley, 20th ed, pp. 278–79 {{ISBN|0-471-80580-7}}</ref> During ], iron tends to leach from sulfide deposits as the sulfate and from silicate deposits as the bicarbonate. Both of these are oxidized in aqueous solution and precipitate in even mildly elevated pH as ].{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1071}} | |||
] | |||
Large deposits of iron are ], a type of rock consisting of repeated thin layers of iron oxides alternating with bands of iron-poor ] and ]. The banded iron formations were laid down in the time between {{Ma|3700}} and {{Ma|1800}}.<ref>{{Cite journal| first1 = T. W.|last2 = Reinhard|title = Early Earth: Oxygen for heavy-metal fans|journal = Nature|volume = 461|issue = 7261|pages = 179–181|date = 2009|last1 = Lyons|doi = 10.1038/461179a|pmid = 19741692|first2 = C. T.|bibcode=2009Natur.461..179L|s2cid = 205049360|doi-access = free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| first1 = P.|title = Paleoecological Significance of the Banded Iron-Formation|journal = Economic Geology|volume = 68|last1 = Cloud|pages = 1135–43|date = 1973|doi = 10.2113/gsecongeo.68.7.1135| issue = 7| bibcode=1973EcGeo..68.1135C }}</ref> | |||
Materials containing finely ground iron(III) oxides or oxide-hydroxides, such as ], have been used as yellow, red, and brown ]s since pre-historical times. They contribute as well to the color of various rocks and ]s, including entire geological formations like the ] in ] and the ] ("colored sandstone", British ]).<ref>Dickinson, Robert E. (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen.</ref> Through ''Eisensandstein'' (a ] 'iron sandstone', e.g. from ] in Germany)<ref> Landesamt für Geologie, Rohstoffe und Bergbau, Baden-Württemberg</ref> and ] in the UK, iron compounds are responsible for the yellowish color of many historical buildings and sculptures.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://minervaconservation.com/articles/talesfromtheriverbank.html|title=Tales From The Riverbank|publisher=Minerva Stone Conservation|access-date=22 September 2015|archive-date=28 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928031602/http://www.minervaconservation.com/articles/talesfromtheriverbank.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The proverbial ] is derived from an iron oxide-rich ].<ref>{{Cite journal|last2=Morris|first2=R. V.|last3=Souza|first3=P. A.|last4=Rodionov|first4=D.|last5=Schröder|first5=C.|date=2007|title=Two earth years of Mössbauer studies of the surface of Mars with MIMOS II|journal=Hyperfine Interactions|volume=170|issue=1–3|pages=169–77|bibcode=2006HyInt.170..169K|doi=10.1007/s10751-007-9508-5|last1=Klingelhöfer|first1=G.|s2cid=98227499}}</ref> | |||
Significant amounts of iron occur in the iron sulfide mineral ] (FeS<sub>2</sub>), but it is difficult to extract iron from it and it is therefore not exploited.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Winderlich | first1=R. | last2=Peter | first2=W. | title=Lehrbuch der Chemie für Höhere Lehranstalten : Einheitsausgabe für Unter- und Oberstufe | publication-place=Wiesbaden | date=1954 | isbn=978-3-663-04370-6 | oclc=913701506 | language=de|page=75 |publisher=Vieweg+Teubner Verlag }}</ref> In fact, iron is so common that production generally focuses only on ores with very high quantities of it.<ref>{{cite book | last=Bertau | first=Martin | title=Industrielle Anorganische Chemie | publisher=Wiley-VCH | publication-place=Weinheim | date=2013 | isbn=978-3-527-64956-3 | oclc=855858511 | language=de|page=696}}</ref> | |||
According to the ]'s ], the global stock of iron in use in society is 2,200 kg per capita. More-developed countries differ in this respect from less-developed countries (7,000–14,000 vs 2,000 kg per capita).<ref>, 2010, ], ]</ref> | |||
===Oceans=== | |||
Ocean science demonstrated the role of the iron in the ancient seas in both marine biota and climate.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Stoll | first=Heather | title=30 years of the iron hypothesis of ice ages | journal=Nature | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=578 | issue=7795 | date=2020-02-17 | issn=0028-0836 | doi=10.1038/d41586-020-00393-x | pages=370–371| pmid=32066927 | bibcode=2020Natur.578..370S | s2cid=211139074 }}</ref> | |||
==Chemistry and compounds== | |||
{{Main|Iron compounds}} | |||
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; clear:right; margin-left:1em; margin-top:0;" | |||
|- | |||
! Oxidation <br />state !! Representative compound | |||
|- | |||
| −2 (d<sup>10</sup>) || ] (Collman's reagent) | |||
|- | |||
| −1 (d<sup>9</sup>) || {{chem|Fe|2|(CO)|8|2-}} | |||
|- | |||
| 0 (d<sup>8</sup>) || ] | |||
|- | |||
| 1 (d<sup>7</sup>) || ] ("Fp<sub>2</sub>") | |||
|- | |||
| 2 (d<sup>6</sup>) || ], ] | |||
|- | |||
| 3 (d<sup>5</sup>) || ], ] | |||
|- | |||
| 4 (d<sup>4</sup>) || {{chem|Fe(diars)|2|Cl|2|2+}}, FeO(BF<sub>4</sub>)<sub>2</sub> | |||
|- | |||
| 5 (d<sup>3</sup>) || {{chem|FeO|4|3-}} | |||
|- | |||
| 6 (d<sup>2</sup>) || ] | |||
|- | |||
|7 (d<sup>1</sup>) | |||
|<sup>–</sup> (matrix isolation, 4K) | |||
|} | |||
Iron shows the characteristic chemical properties of the ]s, namely the ability to form variable oxidation states differing by steps of one and a very large coordination and ]: indeed, it was the discovery of an iron compound, ], that revolutionalized the latter field in the 1950s.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=905}} Iron is sometimes considered as a prototype for the entire block of transition metals, due to its abundance and the immense role it has played in the technological progress of humanity.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1070}} Its 26 electrons are arranged in the ] 3d<sup>6</sup>4s<sup>2</sup>, of which the 3d and 4s electrons are relatively close in energy, and thus a number of electrons can be ionized.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1074–75}} | |||
Iron forms compounds mainly in the ]s +2 (], "ferrous") and +3 (], "ferric"). Iron also occurs in ], e.g., the purple ] (K<sub>2</sub>FeO<sub>4</sub>), which contains iron in its +6 oxidation state. The anion <sup>–</sup> with iron in its +7 oxidation state, along with an iron(V)-peroxo isomer, has been detected by infrared spectroscopy at 4 K after cocondensation of laser-ablated Fe atoms with a mixture of O<sub>2</sub>/Ar.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lu|first1=Jun-Bo|last2=Jian|first2=Jiwen|last3=Huang|first3=Wei|last4=Lin|first4=Hailu|last5=Li|first5=Jun|last6=Zhou|first6=Mingfei|date=2016-11-16|title=Experimental and theoretical identification of the Fe(VII) oxidation state in FeO<sub>4</sub><sup>−</sup>|journal=Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys.|volume=18|issue=45|pages=31125–31131|doi=10.1039/c6cp06753k|pmid=27812577|bibcode=2016PCCP...1831125L}}</ref> Iron(IV) is a common intermediate in many biochemical oxidation reactions.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi = 10.1021/ar700027f|title = High-Valent Iron(IV)–Oxo Complexes of Heme and Non-Heme Ligands in Oxygenation Reactions|date = 2007|last1 = Nam|first1 = Wonwoo|journal = Accounts of Chemical Research|volume = 40|pages = 522–531|pmid = 17469792|issue = 7|url = https://cbs.ewha.ac.kr/pub/data/2007_07.pdf|access-date = 22 February 2022|archive-date = 15 June 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210615123946/http://cbs.ewha.ac.kr/pub/data/2007_07.pdf|url-status = dead}}</ref><ref name="HollemanAF">{{Cite book|publisher = Walter de Gruyter|date = 1985|edition = 91–100|pages = 1125–46|isbn = 3-11-007511-3|title = Lehrbuch der Anorganischen Chemie|first1 = Arnold F.|last1 = Holleman|last2 = Wiberg|first2 = Egon|last3 = Wiberg|first3 = Nils|chapter = Iron| language = de}}</ref> Numerous ] compounds contain formal oxidation states of +1, 0, −1, or even −2. The oxidation states and other bonding properties are often assessed using the technique of ].<ref>{{Cite book| chapter = Mössbauer Spectroscopy and the Coordination Chemistry of Iron|first1 = William Michael|last1 = Reiff|first2 = Gary J.|last2 = Long |title = Mössbauer spectroscopy applied to inorganic chemistry|publisher = Springer|date = 1984|isbn = 978-0-306-41647-7|pages = 245–83}}</ref> Many ]s contain both iron(II) and iron(III) centers, such as ] and ] ({{chem2|Fe4(Fe6)3}}).<ref name="HollemanAF" /> The latter is used as the traditional "blue" in ]s.<ref>{{Cite book| chapter = An introduction in monochrome|pages = 11–19|first = Mike|last = Ware|publisher = NMSI Trading Ltd|title = Cyanotype: the history, science and art of photographic printing in Prussian blue|isbn = 978-1-900747-07-3|date = 1999| chapter-url={{Google books|C-7I69gFIbMC|page=PA11|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}}}</ref> | |||
Iron is the first of the transition metals that cannot reach its group oxidation state of +8, although its heavier congeners ruthenium and osmium can, with ruthenium having more difficulty than osmium.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1075–79}} Ruthenium exhibits an aqueous cationic chemistry in its low oxidation states similar to that of iron, but osmium does not, favoring high oxidation states in which it forms anionic complexes.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1075–79}} In the second half of the 3d transition series, vertical similarities down the groups compete with the horizontal similarities of iron with its neighbors ] and ] in the periodic table, which are also ferromagnetic at ] and share similar chemistry. As such, iron, cobalt, and nickel are sometimes grouped together as the ].{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1070}} | |||
Unlike many other metals, iron does not form amalgams with ]. As a result, mercury is traded in standardized 76 pound flasks (34 kg) made of iron.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Hand-book of chemistry|volume = 6| first1 = Leopold|last1 = Gmelin|author-link = Leopold Gmelin|pages = 128–29| chapter = Mercury and Iron|chapter-url={{Google books|nosMAAAAYAAJ|page=PA128|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|publisher = Cavendish Society|date = 1852}}</ref> | |||
Iron is by far the most reactive element in its group; it is ] when finely divided and dissolves easily in dilute acids, giving Fe<sup>2+</sup>. However, it does not react with concentrated ] and other oxidizing acids due to the formation of an impervious oxide layer, which can nevertheless react with ].{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1075–79}} High-purity iron, called ], is considered to be resistant to rust, due to its oxide layer. | |||
===Binary compounds=== | |||
====Oxides and sulfides==== | |||
{{multiple image | |||
| align = right | |||
| direction = vertical | |||
| width = 160 | |||
| image1 = Iron(II) oxide.jpg | |||
| caption1 = Ferrous or iron(II) oxide, {{chem2|FeO}} | |||
| image2 = Iron(III)-oxide-sample.jpg | |||
| caption2 = Ferric or iron(III) oxide {{chem2|Fe2O3}} | |||
| image3 = Fe3O4.JPG | |||
| caption3 = Ferrosoferric or iron(II,III) oxide {{chem2|Fe3O4}} | |||
| total_width = | |||
| alt1 = | |||
}} | |||
Iron forms various ]; the most common are ] (Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub>), and ] (Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>). ] also exists, though it is unstable at room temperature. Despite their names, they are actually all ]s whose compositions may vary.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1079}} These oxides are the principal ores for the production of iron (see ] and blast furnace). They are also used in the production of ], useful ] media in computers, and pigments. The best known sulfide is ] (FeS<sub>2</sub>), also known as fool's gold owing to its golden luster.<ref name="HollemanAF" /> It is not an iron(IV) compound, but is actually an iron(II) ] containing Fe<sup>2+</sup> and {{chem|S|2|2-}} ions in a distorted ] structure.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1079}} | |||
] of iron]] | |||
====Halides==== | |||
] | |||
The binary ferrous and ferric ]s are well-known. The ferrous halides typically arise from treating iron metal with the corresponding ] to give the corresponding hydrated salts.<ref name="HollemanAF" /> | |||
:Fe + 2 HX → FeX<sub>2</sub> + H<sub>2</sub> (X = F, Cl, Br, I) | |||
Iron reacts with fluorine, chlorine, and bromine to give the corresponding ferric halides, ] being the most common.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1082–84}} | |||
:2 Fe + 3 X<sub>2</sub> → 2 FeX<sub>3</sub> (X = F, Cl, Br) | |||
] is an exception, being thermodynamically unstable due to the oxidizing power of Fe<sup>3+</sup> and the high reducing power of I<sup>−</sup>:{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1082–84}} | |||
:2 I<sup>−</sup> + 2 Fe<sup>3+</sup> → I<sub>2</sub> + 2 Fe<sup>2+</sup> (E<sup>0</sup> = +0.23 V) | |||
Ferric iodide, a black solid, is not stable in ordinary conditions, but can be prepared through the reaction of ] with ] and ] in the presence of ] and light at the temperature of −20 °C, with oxygen and water excluded.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1082–84}} Complexes of ferric iodide with some soft bases are known to be stable compounds.<ref>Siegfried Pohl, Ulrich Bierbach, Wolfgang Saak; "FeI3SC(NMe2)2, a Neutral Thiourea Complex of Iron(III) Iodide", Angewandte Chemie International Edition in English (1989) 28 (6), 776-777. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.198907761</ref><ref>Nicholas A. Barnes, Stephen M.Godfrey, Nicholas Ho, Charles A.McAuliffe, Robin G.Pritchard; "Facile synthesis of a rare example of an iron(III) iodide complex, , from the reaction of Me3AsI2 with unactivated iron powder", Polyhedron (2013) 55, 67-72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poly.2013.02.066</ref> | |||
===Solution chemistry=== | |||
] (right)]] | |||
The ]s in acidic aqueous solution for some common iron ions are given below:{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1075–79}} | |||
:{| | |||
|- | |||
| <sup>2+</sup> + 2 e<sup>−</sup>|| {{eqm}} Fe || E<sup>0</sup> = −0.447 V | |||
|- | |||
| <sup>3+</sup> + e<sup>−</sup>|| {{eqm}} <sup>2+</sup> || E<sup>0</sup> = +0.77 V | |||
|- | |||
| {{chem|FeO|4|2-}} + 8 H<sub>3</sub>O<sup>+</sup> + 3 e<sup>−</sup>|| {{eqm}} <sup>3+</sup> + 6 H<sub>2</sub>O || E<sup>0</sup> = +2.20 V | |||
|} | |||
The red-purple tetrahedral ](VI) anion is such a strong oxidizing agent that it oxidizes ammonia to nitrogen (N<sub>2</sub>) and water to oxygen:{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1082–84}} | |||
:4 {{chem|FeO|4|2-}} + 34 {{chem|H|2|O}} → 4 {{chem2|(3+)}} + 20 {{chem|OH|-}} + 3 O<sub>2</sub> | |||
The pale-violet hex] {{chem2|(3+)}} is an acid such that above pH 0 it is fully hydrolyzed:{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1088–91}} | |||
:{| | |||
|- | |||
| {{chem2|(3+)}} || {{eqm}} {{chem2|(2+) + H(+)}} || '']'' = 10<sup>−3.05</sup> mol dm<sup>−3</sup> | |||
|- | |||
| {{chem2|(2+)}} || {{eqm}} {{chem2|(+) + H(+)}} || ''K'' = 10<sup>−3.26</sup> mol dm<sup>−3</sup> | |||
|- | |||
| {{chem2|2(3+)}} || {{eqm}} {{chem2|2(4+) + 2H(+) + 2H2O}} || ''K'' = 10<sup>−2.91</sup> mol dm<sup>−3</sup> | |||
|} | |||
] heptahydrate]] | |||
As pH rises above 0 the above yellow hydrolyzed species form and as it rises above 2–3, reddish-brown hydrous ] precipitates out of solution. Although Fe<sup>3+</sup> has a d<sup>5</sup> configuration, its absorption spectrum is not like that of Mn<sup>2+</sup> with its weak, spin-forbidden d–d bands, because Fe<sup>3+</sup> has higher positive charge and is more polarizing, lowering the energy of its ligand-to-metal ] absorptions. Thus, all the above complexes are rather strongly colored, with the single exception of the hexaquo ion – and even that has a spectrum dominated by charge transfer in the near ultraviolet region.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1088–91}} On the other hand, the pale green iron(II) hexaquo ion {{chem2|(2+)}} does not undergo appreciable hydrolysis. Carbon dioxide is not evolved when ] anions are added, which instead results in white ] being precipitated out. In excess carbon dioxide this forms the slightly soluble bicarbonate, which occurs commonly in groundwater, but it oxidises quickly in air to form ] that accounts for the brown deposits present in a sizeable number of streams.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1091–97}} | |||
===Coordination compounds=== | |||
Due to its electronic structure, iron has a very large coordination and organometallic chemistry. | |||
] of the ferrioxalate ion]] | |||
Many coordination compounds of iron are known. A typical six-coordinate anion is hexachloroferrate(III), <sup>3−</sup>, found in the mixed ] ].<ref>{{cite journal|last1 = Clausen|first1 = C.A.|last2 = Good|first2 = M.L.|year = 1968|title = Stabilization of the hexachloroferrate(III) anion by the methylammonium cation|journal = ] |volume = 7|issue = 12|pages = 2662–63|doi = 10.1021/ic50070a047}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1 = James|first1 = B.D.|first2 = M.|last2 = Bakalova|first3 = J.|last3 = Lieseganga|first4 = W.M.|last4 = Reiff|first5 = D.C.R.|last5 = Hockless|first6 = B.W.|last6 = Skelton|first7 = A.H.|last7 = White|year = 1996|title = The hexachloroferrate(III) anion stabilized in hydrogen bonded packing arrangements. A comparison of the X-ray crystal structures and low temperature magnetism of tetrakis(methylammonium) hexachloroferrate(III) chloride '''(I)''' and tetrakis(hexamethylenediammonium) hexachloroferrate(III) tetrachloroferrate(III) tetrachloride '''(II)'''|journal = ]|volume = 247|issue = 2|pages = 169–74|doi = 10.1016/0020-1693(95)04955-X}}</ref> Complexes with multiple bidentate ligands have ]s. For example, the ''trans''-] complex is used as a starting material for compounds with the {{chem2|Fe(])2}} ].<ref>{{cite book|last1 = Giannoccaro|first1 = P.|last2 = Sacco|first2 = A.| title=Inorganic Syntheses | chapter=Bis[Ethylenebis(Diphenylphosphine)]-Hydridoiron Complexes|year = 1977|volume = 17|pages = 69–72|doi = 10.1002/9780470132487.ch19|isbn = 978-0-470-13248-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1 = Lee|first1 = J.|last2 = Jung|first2 = G.|last3 = Lee|first3 = S.W.|title = Structure of trans-chlorohydridobis(diphenylphosphinoethane)iron(II)|journal = Bull. Korean Chem. Soc.|year = 1998|volume = 19|issue = 2|pages = 267–69|url = https://www.koreascience.or.kr/article/ArticleFullRecord.jsp?cn=JCGMCS_1998_v19n2_267|doi = 10.1007/BF02698412|s2cid = 35665289}}</ref> The ferrioxalate ion with three ] ligands displays ] with its two non-superposable geometries labelled ''Λ'' (lambda) for the left-handed screw axis and ''Δ'' (delta) for the right-handed screw axis, in line with IUPAC conventions.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1088–91}} ] is used in chemical ] and along with its ] undergoes ] applied in old-style photographic processes. The ] of ] has a ]ic structure with co-planar oxalate ions bridging between iron centres with the water of crystallisation located forming the caps of each octahedron, as illustrated below.<ref>{{cite journal|first1 = Takuya|last1 = Echigo|first2 = Mitsuyoshi|last2 = Kimata|title = Single-crystal X-ray diffraction and spectroscopic studies on humboldtine and lindbergite: weak Jahn–Teller effect of Fe<sup>2+</sup> ion|journal = ]|year = 2008|volume = 35|issue = 8|pages = 467–75|doi= 10.1007/s00269-008-0241-7|bibcode = 2008PCM....35..467E|s2cid = 98739882}}</ref> | |||
] | |||
] | |||
Iron(III) complexes are quite similar to those of ](III) with the exception of iron(III)'s preference for ''O''-donor instead of ''N''-donor ligands. The latter tend to be rather more unstable than iron(II) complexes and often dissociate in water. Many Fe–O complexes show intense colors and are used as tests for ]s or ]s. For example, in the ], used to determine the presence of phenols, ] reacts with a phenol to form a deep violet complex:{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1088–91}} | |||
:3 ArOH + FeCl<sub>3</sub> → Fe(OAr)<sub>3</sub> + 3 HCl (Ar = ]) | |||
Among the halide and pseudohalide complexes, fluoro complexes of iron(III) are the most stable, with the colorless <sup>2−</sup> being the most stable in aqueous solution. Chloro complexes are less stable and favor tetrahedral coordination as in <sup>−</sup>; <sup>−</sup> and <sup>−</sup> are reduced easily to iron(II). ] is a common test for the presence of iron(III) as it forms the blood-red <sup>2+</sup>. Like manganese(II), most iron(III) complexes are high-spin, the exceptions being those with ligands that are high in the ] such as ]. An example of a low-spin iron(III) complex is <sup>3−</sup>. Iron shows a great variety of electronic ], including every possible spin quantum number value for a d-block element from 0 (diamagnetic) to {{frac|5|2}} (5 unpaired electrons). This value is always half the number of unpaired electrons. Complexes with zero to two unpaired electrons are considered low-spin and those with four or five are considered high-spin.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1079}} | |||
Iron(II) complexes are less stable than iron(III) complexes but the preference for ''O''-donor ligands is less marked, so that for example {{chem2|(2+)}} is known while {{chem2|(3+)}} is not. They have a tendency to be oxidized to iron(III) but this can be moderated by low pH and the specific ligands used.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1091–97}} | |||
===Organometallic compounds=== | |||
] | |||
] is the study of ]s of iron, where carbon atoms are covalently bound to the metal atom. They are many and varied, including ], ]es, ] and ]s. | |||
] | |||
] or "ferric ferrocyanide", Fe<sub>4</sub><sub>3</sub>, is an old and well-known iron-cyanide complex, extensively used as pigment and in several other applications. Its formation can be used as a simple wet chemistry test to distinguish between aqueous solutions of Fe<sup>2+</sup> and Fe<sup>3+</sup> as they react (respectively) with ] and ] to form Prussian blue.<ref name="HollemanAF" /> | |||
Another old example of an organoiron compound is ], Fe(CO)<sub>5</sub>, in which a neutral iron atom is bound to the carbon atoms of five ] molecules. The compound can be used to make ] powder, a highly reactive form of metallic iron. ] of iron pentacarbonyl gives ], {{chem2|Fe3(CO)12}}, a complex with a cluster of three iron atoms at its core. Collman's reagent, ], is a useful reagent for organic chemistry; it contains iron in the −2 oxidation state. ] contains iron in the rare +1 oxidation state.<ref>{{Greenwood&Earnshaw1st|pages=1282–86}}.</ref> | |||
{{multiple image | |||
| align = top | direction = h | |||
| total_width = 250 | |||
| image1 = Ferrocene.svg | |||
| image2 = Photo of Ferrocene (powdered).JPG | |||
| footer = Structural formula of ferrocene and a powdered sample | |||
}} | |||
A landmark in this field was the discovery in 1951 of the remarkably stable ] ] {{chem2|Fe(C5H5)2}}, by Pauson and Kealy<ref>{{Cite journal |last1= Kealy |first1=T.J. |last2= Pauson |first2=P.L. |year= 1951 |title= A New Type of Organo-Iron Compound |journal= ] |volume= 168 |issue= 4285 |pages= 1039–40 |doi= 10.1038/1681039b0|bibcode = 1951Natur.168.1039K |s2cid=4181383 }}</ref> and independently by Miller and colleagues,<ref name = Miller>{{cite journal| last1=Miller|first1= S. A.|last2=Tebboth|first2= J. A.|last3= Tremaine|first3= J. F.|journal= ]|year=1952| pages= 632–635| title=114. Dicyclopentadienyliron |doi=10.1039/JR9520000632}}</ref> whose surprising molecular structure was determined only a year later by ] and ]<ref>{{cite journal |first1= G. |last1=Wilkinson|author1-link=Geoffrey Wilkinson |first2=M.|last2= Rosenblum |first3=M. C.|last3= Whiting|first4= R. B. |last4=Woodward|author4-link=Robert Burns Woodward |title = The Structure of Iron Bis-Cyclopentadienyl |journal = ] |year = 1952|volume = 74 |pages = 2125–2126 |doi = 10.1021/ja01128a527 |issue = 8}}</ref> and ].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Okuda|first=Jun|date=2016-12-28|title=Ferrocene – 65 Years After|journal=European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry|volume=2017|issue=2|pages=217–219|doi=10.1002/ejic.201601323|issn=1434-1948|doi-access=free}}</ref> | |||
Ferrocene is still one of the most important tools and models in this class.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1104}} | |||
Iron-centered organometallic species are used as ]s. The ], for example, is a ] catalyst for ]s.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bullock|first=R.M.|date=11 September 2007|title=An Iron Catalyst for Ketone Hydrogenations under Mild Conditions|journal=]|volume=46|issue=39|pages=7360–63|doi=10.1002/anie.200703053|pmid=17847139|doi-access=free}}</ref> | |||
===Industrial uses=== | |||
The iron compounds produced on the largest scale in industry are ] (FeSO<sub>4</sub>·7]) and ] (FeCl<sub>3</sub>). The former is one of the most readily available sources of iron(II), but is less stable to aerial oxidation than ] ({{chem2|(NH4)2Fe(SO4)2*6H2O}}). Iron(II) compounds tend to be oxidized to iron(III) compounds in the air.<ref name="HollemanAF" /> | |||
==History== | |||
{{Main|History of ferrous metallurgy}} | {{Main|History of ferrous metallurgy}} | ||
The first iron used by mankind, far back in prehistory, came from meteors. The ] of iron in ] probably began in ] or the ] in the second millennium BC or the latter part of the preceding one. ] was first produced in ] about 550 BC, but not in Europe until the medieval period. During the medieval period, means were found in Europe of producing ] from ] (in this context known as ]) using ]s. For all these processes, ] was required as fuel. | |||
===Development of iron metallurgy=== | |||
] (with a smaller carbon content than ] but more than ]) was first produced in antiquity. New methods of producing it by ] bars of iron in the ] were devised in the ] AD. In the ], new methods of producing bar iron without charcoal were devised and these were later applied to produce steel. In the late ], ] invented a new steelmaking process, involving blowing air through molten pig iron, to produce mild steel. This and other ] and later processes have led to ] no longer being produced. | |||
Iron is one of the elements undoubtedly known to the ancient world.{{sfn|Weeks|1968|p=4}} It has been worked, or ], for millennia. However, iron artefacts of great age are much rarer than objects made of gold or silver due to the ease with which iron corrodes.{{sfn|Weeks|1968|p=29}} The technology developed slowly, and even after the discovery of smelting it took many centuries for iron to replace bronze as the metal of choice for tools and weapons. | |||
====Meteoritic iron==== | |||
== Occurrence == | |||
]. The iron edge covers a ] tusk harpoon using meteorite iron from the ], one of the largest iron meteorites known.]] | |||
] | |||
Beads made from ] in 3500 BC or earlier were found in ], Egypt by ].{{sfn|Weeks|1968|p=31}}<!-- Typo on page 31 refers to "G. W." but reference at end of chapter says "G. A." --> The beads contain 7.5% nickel, which is a signature of meteoric origin since iron found in the Earth's crust generally has only minuscule nickel impurities. | |||
Iron is one of the most common elements on Earth, making up about 5% of the Earth's crust. Most of this iron is found in various ]s, such as the minerals ], ], and ]. The ] is believed to consist largely of a metallic iron-] alloy. About 5% of the ]s similarly consist of iron-nickel alloy. Although rare, these are the major form of natural metallic iron on the earth's surface. | |||
Meteoric iron was highly regarded due to its origin in the heavens and was often used to forge weapons and tools.{{sfn|Weeks|1968|p=31}} For example, a ] made of meteoric iron was found in the tomb of ], containing similar proportions of iron, cobalt, and nickel to a meteorite discovered in the area, deposited by an ancient meteor shower.<ref name="Bjorkman 1973">{{cite journal|last=Bjorkman|first=Judith Kingston|title=Meteors and Meteorites in the ancient Near East |journal=Meteoritics |date=1973 |pages=91–132 |doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.1973.tb00146.x |volume=8|issue=2|bibcode=1973Metic...8...91B}}</ref><ref name="Comelli">{{cite journal|doi=10.1111/maps.12664 |bibcode=2016M&PS...51.1301C|title=The meteoritic origin of Tutankhamun's iron dagger blade|journal=Meteoritics & Planetary Science|volume=51|issue=7|pages=1301–09|year=2016|last1=Comelli|first1=Daniela|last2=d'Orazio|first2=Massimo|last3=Folco|first3=Luigi|last4=El-Halwagy|first4=Mahmud|last5=Frizzi|first5=Tommaso|last6=Alberti|first6=Roberto|last7=Capogrosso|first7=Valentina|last8=Elnaggar|first8=Abdelrazek|last9=Hassan|first9=Hala|last10=Nevin|first10=Austin|last11=Porcelli|first11=Franco|last12=Rashed|first12=Mohamed G|last13=Valentini|first13=Gianluca|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="walshx">{{cite news | last=Walsh | first=Declan | title=King Tut's Dagger Made of 'Iron From the Sky,' Researchers Say | newspaper=] | quote=the blade's composition of iron, nickel and cobalt was an approximate match for a meteorite that landed in northern Egypt. The result "strongly suggests an extraterrestrial origin" | date=2 June 2016 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/03/world/middleeast/king-tuts-dagger-made-of-iron-from-the-sky-researchers-say.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220103/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/03/world/middleeast/king-tuts-dagger-made-of-iron-from-the-sky-researchers-say.html |archive-date=2022-01-03 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live | access-date=4 June 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Items that were likely made of iron by Egyptians date from 3000 to 2500 BC.{{sfn|Weeks|1968|p=29}} | |||
The reason for Mars's red colour is thought to be an iron-rich soil. | |||
Meteoritic iron is comparably soft and ductile and easily ] but may get brittle when heated because of the ] content.<ref>{{Cite book|url={{Google books|-CQ4AQAAIAAJ|page=PA492|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|title=Technisches wörterbuch oder Handbuch der Gewerbskunde ... : Bearb. nach Dr. Andrew Ure's Dictionary of arts, manufactures and mines|last=Ure|first=Andrew|date=1843|publisher=G. Haase|page=492|language=de}}</ref> | |||
''See also ].'' | |||
== |
====Wrought iron==== | ||
{{ |
{{Main|Wrought iron}} | ||
{{Further|Ancient iron production}} | |||
{{Mergeinto|Blast furnace|date=December 2006}} | |||
] has been used since antiquity to represent iron.]] ] is an example of the iron extraction and processing methodologies of early India.]] | |||
] | |||
] pellets will be used in ] production.]] | |||
Industrially, iron is produced starting from ]s, principally ] (nominally Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>) and ] (Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub>) by a ] reaction (reduction with ]) in a ] at temperatures of about 2000 °C. In a blast furnace, iron ore, carbon in the form of ], and a ''flux'' such as ] are fed into the top of the furnace, while a blast of heated ] is forced into the furnace at the bottom. | |||
The first iron production started in the ], but it took several centuries before iron displaced bronze. Samples of ] iron from ], Mesopotamia and Tall Chagar Bazaar in northern Syria were made sometime between 3000 and 2700 BC.{{sfn|Weeks|1968|p=32}} The ] established an empire in north-central ] around 1600 BC. They appear to be the first to understand the production of iron from its ores and regard it highly in their society.<ref>McNutt, Paula (1990 1). The Forging of Israel: Iron Technology, Symbolism and Tradition in Ancient Society. A&C Black.</ref> The ] began to smelt iron between 1500 and 1200 BC and the practice spread to the rest of the Near East after their empire fell in 1180 BC.{{sfn|Weeks|1968|p=32}} The subsequent period is called the ]. | |||
In the furnace, the ] reacts with ] in the air blast to produce ]: | |||
Artifacts of smelted iron are found in ] dating from 1800 to 1200 BC,<ref name="Tewari">{{cite web| url = https://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/tewari/tewari.pdf|first = Rakesh|last = Tewari|title = The origins of Iron Working in India: New evidence from the Central Ganga plain and the Eastern Vindhyas|publisher = State Archaeological Department|access-date = 23 May 2010}}</ref> and in the ] from about 1500 BC (suggesting smelting in ] or the ]).<ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1080/00438243.1989.9980081|last=Photos|first = E.|title=The Question of Meteoritic versus Smelted Nickel-Rich Iron: Archaeological Evidence and Experimental Results|journal=World Archaeology |volume=20 |issue=3 |date=1989 |pages=403–21|publisher=Taylor & Francis, Ltd.|jstor = 124562}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| last = Muhly|first = James D.|chapter = Metalworking/Mining in the Levant|pages = 174–83|title =Near Eastern Archaeology IN: Eisenbrauns |editor = Lake, Richard Winona |date = 2003|volume = 180}}</ref> Alleged references (compare ]) to iron in the Indian ] have been used for claims of a very early usage of iron in India respectively to date the texts as such. The ] term ''ayas'' (metal) refers to copper, while iron which is called as ''śyāma ayas'', literally "black copper", first is mentioned in the post-rigvedic ].<ref>] (2001), , in ''Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies'' (EJVS) 7-3, pp. 1–93</ref> | |||
:6 ] + 3 ] → 6 ] | |||
Some archaeological evidence suggests iron was smelted in ] and southeast Africa as early as the eighth century BC.<ref>Weeks, p. 33, quoting Cline, Walter (1937) "Mining and Metallurgy in Negro Africa", George Banta Publishing Co., Menasha, Wis., pp. 17–23.</ref> Iron working was introduced to ] in the late 11th century BC, from which it spread quickly throughout Europe.<ref>Riederer, Josef; Wartke, Ralf-B. (2009) "Iron", Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth (eds.): ], Brill.</ref> | |||
The carbon monoxide reduces the iron ore (in the ] below, hematite) to molten iron, becoming ] in the process: | |||
] | |||
:6 ] + 2 ] → 4 Fe + 6 ] | |||
The spread of ironworking in Central and Western Europe is associated with ] expansion. According to ], iron use was common in the ] era.{{sfn|Weeks|1968|p=31}} In the lands of what is now considered ], iron appears approximately 700–500 BC.<ref>Sawyer, Ralph D. and Sawyer, Mei-chün (1993). ''The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China.'' Boulder: Westview. {{ISBN|0-465-00304-4}}. p. 10.</ref> Iron smelting may have been introduced into China through Central Asia.<ref name="pigott2">Pigott, Vincent C. (1999). ''The Archaeometallurgy of the Asian Old World''. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. {{ISBN|0-924171-34-0}}, p. 8.</ref> The earliest evidence of the use of a ] in China dates to the 1st century AD,<ref name="Golas1999">{{cite book|last=Golas |first= Peter J. |title=Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 13, Mining|url={{Google books|TSiII7s2wLkC|page=PA152|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|date= 1999|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-58000-7|page=152|quote=earliest blast furnace discovered in China from about the first century AD}}</ref> and cupola furnaces were used as early as the ] (403–221 BC).<ref name="pigott">Pigott, Vincent C. (1999). ''The Archaeometallurgy of the Asian Old World''. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. {{ISBN|0-924171-34-0}}, p. 191.</ref> Usage of the blast and cupola furnace remained widespread during the ] and ] dynasties.<ref name="The Coming of the Ages of Steel">{{cite book|title=The Coming of the Ages of Steel|url={{Google books|uMwUAAAAIAAJ|page=PA54|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|publisher=Brill Archive|page=54|date=1961}}</ref> | |||
During the Industrial Revolution in Britain, ] began refining iron from ] to ] (or bar iron) using innovative production systems. In 1783 he patented the ] for refining iron ore. It was later improved by others, including ].<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1179/tns.1977.011|title=Dry and Wet Puddling|journal=Transactions of the Newcomen Society|volume=49|pages=156–57|year=2014|last1=Mott|first1=R.A}}</ref> | |||
The flux is present to melt impurities in the ore, principally ] ] and other ]s. Common fluxes include limestone (principally ]) and dolomite (calcium-magnesium carbonate). Other fluxes may be used depending on the impurities that need to be removed from the ore. In the heat of the furnace the limestone flux decomposes to ] (quicklime): | |||
====Cast iron==== | |||
:] → ] + ] | |||
{{Main|Cast iron}} | |||
] was first produced in China during 5th century BC,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wagner |first= Donald B.|url=https://hist-met.org/images/Journal_PDFs/37_1_p_25_Wagner.pdf|title=Chinese blast furnaces from the 10th to the 14th century|journal=Historical Metallurgy|volume=37|issue=1|date=2003|pages=25–37|access-date=7 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180107175015/https://hist-met.org/images/Journal_PDFs/37_1_p_25_Wagner.pdf|archive-date=7 January 2018|url-status=dead}} originally published in {{Cite journal|first =Donald B.|last =Wagner|title=Chinese blast furnaces from the 10th to the 14th century|journal=West Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine|volume=18 |date=2001|pages=41–74|doi =10.1163/26669323-01801008}}</ref> but was hardly in Europe until the medieval period.<ref>Giannichedda, Enrico (2007): , in ''Technology in Transition AD 300–650'' Lavan, L.; Zanini, E. and Sarantis, A.(eds.), Brill, Leiden; {{ISBN|90-04-16549-5}}, p. 200.</ref><ref name="Biddle">{{Cite book| title = Chemistry, Precision and Design|publisher = A Beka Book, Inc.|first1 = Verne|last1 =Biddle|first2= Gregory|last2 =Parker}}</ref><!--Missing page numbers (how would you add them?)--> The earliest cast iron artifacts were discovered by archaeologists in what is now modern ], ] in China. Cast iron was used in ] for warfare, agriculture, and architecture.<ref name="Wagner">{{cite book|last=Wagner |first= Donald B. |title=Iron and Steel in Ancient China|date=1993|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-09632-5|pages=335–340}}</ref> During the ] period, means were found in Europe of producing wrought iron from cast iron (in this context known as ]) using ]s. For all these processes, ] was required as fuel.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1072}} | |||
]'', 1801. Blast furnaces light the iron making town of ].]] | |||
Medieval ] were about {{convert|10|ft|m}} tall and made of fireproof brick; forced air was usually provided by hand-operated bellows.<ref name="Biddle" /> Modern blast furnaces have grown much bigger, with hearths fourteen meters in diameter that allow them to produce thousands of tons of iron each day, but essentially operate in much the same way as they did during medieval times.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1072}} | |||
In 1709, ] established a ]-fired blast furnace to produce cast iron, replacing charcoal, although continuing to use blast furnaces. The ensuing availability of inexpensive iron was one of the factors leading to the ]. Toward the end of the 18th century, cast iron began to replace wrought iron for certain purposes, because it was cheaper. Carbon content in iron was not implicated as the reason for the differences in properties of wrought iron, cast iron, and steel until the 18th century.{{sfn|Weeks|1968|p=32}} | |||
Then calcium oxide combines with silicon dioxide to form a ''slag''. | |||
Since iron was becoming cheaper and more plentiful, it also became a major structural material following the building of the innovative ] in 1778. This bridge still stands today as a monument to the role iron played in the Industrial Revolution. Following this, iron was used in rails, boats, ships, aqueducts, and buildings, as well as in iron cylinders in ]s.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1072}} Railways have been central to the formation of modernity and ideas of progress<ref>Schivelbusch, G. (1986) The Railway Journey: Industrialization and Perception of Time and Space in the 19th Century. Oxford: Berg.</ref> and various languages refer to railways as ''iron road'' (e.g. French {{Lang|fr|chemin de fer}}, German {{Lang|de|Eisenbahn}}, Turkish {{Lang|tr|demiryolu}}, Russian {{Lang|ru|железная дорога}}, ] 鐵道, Vietnamese ''{{Lang|vi|đường sắt}}''). | |||
:] + ] → ] | |||
====Steel==== | |||
The slag melts in the heat of the furnace, which silicon dioxide would not have. In the bottom of the furnace, the molten slag floats on top of the more dense molten iron, and apertures in the side of the furnace are opened to run off the iron and the slag separately. The iron once cooled, is called ], while the slag can be used as a material in ] construction or to improve mineral-poor soils for ]. | |||
{{Main|Steel}} | |||
{{See also|Steelmaking}} | |||
Steel (with smaller carbon content than pig iron but more than wrought iron) was first produced in antiquity by using a ]. Blacksmiths in ] in western Persia were making good steel by 1000 BC.{{sfn|Weeks|1968|p=32}} Then improved versions, ] by India and ] were developed around 300 BC and AD 500 respectively. These methods were specialized, and so steel did not become a major commodity until the 1850s.<ref>Spoerl, Joseph S. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602031459/https://www.anselm.edu/homepage/dbanach/h-carnegie-steel.htm |date=2 June 2010 }}. Saint Anselm College</ref> | |||
New methods of producing it by ] bars of iron in the ] were devised in the 17th century. In the ], new methods of producing bar iron without charcoal were devised and these were later applied to produce steel. In the late 1850s, ] invented a new steelmaking process, involving blowing air through molten pig iron, to produce mild steel. This made steel much more economical, thereby leading to wrought iron no longer being produced in large quantities.<ref>{{cite book | url={{Google books|fUmTX8yKU4gC|page=PA190|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} | pages = 190–91 | title = Encyclopedia of the Elements: Technical Data – History – Processing – Applications | isbn = 978-3-527-61234-5 | last1 = Enghag | first1 = Per | date = 8 January 2008| publisher = John Wiley & Sons }}</ref> | |||
Pig iron is not pure iron, but has 4-5% carbon dissolved in it. This is subsequently reduced to ] or commercially pure iron, known as ], using other furnaces or converters. | |||
===Foundations of modern chemistry=== | |||
Approximately 1100Mt (million tons) of iron ore was produced in the world | |||
In 1774, ] used the reaction of water steam with metallic iron inside an incandescent iron tube to produce ] in his experiments leading to the demonstration of the ], which was instrumental in changing chemistry from a qualitative science to a quantitative one.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1021/ed052p658|title=An historical note on the conservation of mass|journal=Journal of Chemical Education|volume=52|issue=10|page=658|year=1975|last1=Whitaker|first1=Robert D|bibcode=1975JChEd..52..658W}} | |||
in 2000, with a gross market value of approximately 25 billion US dollars. While ore production occurs in 48 countries, the five largest producers were China, Brazil, Australia, Russia and India, accounting for 70% of world iron ore production. The 1100Mt of iron ore was used to produce approximately 572Mt of ]. | |||
</ref> | |||
<!-- | |||
===Recent discoveries=== | |||
* discovery of ] | |||
* many enzymes use iron in the catalytic center | |||
* Nickel-56 is the natural end product of silicon burning in massive stars. However, nickel-56 decays to cobalt-56 and then to stable iron-56, ultimately making iron the most abundant heavy element produced by that nucleosynthesis. | |||
* superconductivity? | |||
* magnetic effect | |||
* ] --> | |||
== |
==Symbolic role== | ||
] brooch from WWI. ]] | |||
Naturally occurring iron consists of four ]s: 5.845% of radioactive <sup>54</sup>Fe (half-life: >3.1×10<sup>22</sup> years), 91.754% of stable <sup>56</sup>Fe, 2.119% of stable <sup>57</sup>Fe and 0.282% of stable <sup>58</sup>Fe. | |||
Iron plays a certain role in mythology and has found various usage ] and in ]. The ] poet ]'s '']'' (lines 109–201) lists different ] named after metals like gold, silver, bronze and iron to account for successive ages of humanity.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1086/366027 |jstor=268960 |title=Work, Justice, and Hesiod's Five Ages |journal=Classical Philology |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=1–16 |year=1974 |last1=Fontenrose |first1=Joseph |s2cid=161808359}}</ref> The Iron Age was closely related with Rome, and in Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' | |||
<sup>60</sup>Fe is an extinct ] of long ] (1.5 million years). | |||
{{Blockquote|text=The Virtues, in despair, quit the earth; and the depravity of man becomes universal and complete. Hard steel succeeded then.|sign=Ovid|source=], Book I, Iron age, line 160 ff}} | |||
Much of the past work on measuring the isotopic composition of Fe has centered on determining <sup>60</sup>Fe variations due to processes accompanying ] (i.e., ] studies) and ore formation. In the last decade however, advances in ] technology have allowed the detection and quantification of minute, naturally-occurring variations in the ratios of the ]s of iron. Much of this work has been driven by the ] and ] communities, although applications to biological and industrial systems are beginning to emerge.<ref>Dauphas, N. & Rouxel, O. 2006. Mass spectrometry and natural variations of iron isotopes. ''Mass Spectrometry Reviews'', '''25,''' 515-550</ref> | |||
An example of the importance of iron's symbolic role may be found in the ]. ] commissioned then the first ] as military decoration. ] reached its peak production between 1813 and 1815, when the Prussian ] urged citizens to donate gold and silver jewellery for military funding. The inscription ''Ich gab Gold für Eisen'' (I gave gold for iron) was used as well in later war efforts.<ref>Schmidt, Eva (1981) ''Der preußische Eisenkunstguss. (Art of Prussian cast iron) Technik, Geschichte, Werke, Künstler''. Verlag Mann, Berlin, {{ISBN|3-7861-1130-8}}</ref> | |||
The isotope <sup>56</sup>Fe is of particular interest to nuclear scientists. A common misconception is that this isotope represents the most stable nucleus possible, and that it thus would be impossible to perform fission or fusion on <sup>56</sup>Fe and still liberate energy. This is not true, as both <sup>62</sup>Ni and <sup>58</sup>Fe are more stable. | |||
=={{visible anchor|Production of metallic iron|Industrial production}}== | |||
In phases of the meteorites ''Semarkona'' and ''Chervony Kut'' a correlation between the concentration of <sup>60</sup>], the ] of <sup>60</sup>Fe, and the abundance of the stable iron isotopes could be found which is evidence for the existence of <sup>60</sup>Fe at the time of formation of the solar system. Possibly the energy released by the decay of <sup>60</sup>Fe contributed, together with the energy released by decay of the radionuclide <sup>26</sup>], to the remelting and ] of ]s after their formation 4.6 billion years ago. The abundance of <sup>60</sup>] present in ] material may also provide further insight into the origin of the ] and its early history. | |||
]]] | |||
Of the stable isotopes, only <sup>57</sup>Fe has a nuclear ] (−1/2). | |||
===Laboratory routes=== | |||
==Iron in organic synthesis== | |||
For a few limited purposes when it is needed, pure iron is produced in the laboratory in small quantities by reducing the pure oxide or hydroxide with hydrogen, or forming iron pentacarbonyl and heating it to 250 °C so that it decomposes to form pure iron powder.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1071}} Another method is electrolysis of ferrous chloride onto an iron cathode.<ref>Lux, H. (1963) "Metallic Iron" in ''Handbook of Preparative Inorganic Chemistry'', 2nd Ed. G. Brauer (ed.), Academic Press, NY. Vol. 2. pp. 1490–91.</ref> | |||
The usage of iron metal filings in organic synthesis is mainly for the ] of ]s.<ref>Fox, B. A.; Threlfall, T. L. '']'', Coll. Vol. 5, p.346 (1973); Vol. 44, p.34 (1964). ()</ref> Additionally, iron has been used for ]s<ref>Blomquist, A. T.; Dinguid, L. I. '']'' '''1947''', ''12'', 718 & 723.</ref>, ] of ]s<ref>Clarke, H. T.; Dreger, E. E. '']'', Coll. Vol. 1, p.304 (1941); Vol. 6, p.52 (1926). ()</ref>, and the ] of amine oxides<ref>den Hertog, J.; Overhoff, J. ''Recl. Trav. Chim. Pays-Bas'' '''1950''', ''69'', 468.</ref>. | |||
===Main industrial route=== | |||
== Iron in biology == | |||
{{See also|Iron ore}} | |||
]]] | |||
{|class="wikitable floatright" | |||
Iron is essential to nearly all known ]s. It is mostly stably incorporated in the inside of ]s, because in exposed or in free form it causes production of ]s that are generally toxic to cells. To say that iron is free doesn't mean that it is free floating in the bodily fluids. Iron binds avidly to virtually all biomolecules so it will adhere nonspecifically to ], ], ] etc. | |||
|+Iron production 2009 (million ])<ref>. World Steel Association</ref>{{dubious|reason=China+Australia+Brazil>World on iron ore???|date=January 2023}} | |||
!Country!!]!!]!!]!!] | |||
|- | |||
|{{flag|China}}|| 1,114.9||549.4 || || 573.6 | |||
|- | |||
|{{flag|Australia}}||393.9|| 4.4|| ||5.2 | |||
|- | |||
|{{flag|Brazil}}||305.0||25.1 ||0.011 ||26.5 | |||
|- | |||
|{{flag|Japan}}|| || 66.9|| || 87.5 | |||
|- | |||
|{{flag|India}}||257.4||38.2 || 23.4||63.5 | |||
|- | |||
|{{flag|Russia}}||92.1|| 43.9|| 4.7||60.0 | |||
|- | |||
|{{flag|Ukraine}}||65.8|| 25.7|| ||29.9 | |||
|- | |||
|{{flag|South Korea}}|| 0.1|| 27.3|| ||48.6 | |||
|- | |||
|{{flag|Germany}}||0.4 || 20.1||0.38 ||32.7 | |||
|- | |||
!World!! 1,594.9!!914.0!! 64.5!! 1,232.4 | |||
|} | |||
Nowadays, the industrial production of iron or steel consists of two main stages. In the first stage, iron ore is ] with ] in a ], and the molten metal is separated from gross impurities such as ]s. This stage yields an alloy – ] – that contains relatively large amounts of carbon.<!--"Alternatively, it may be directly reduced." – what does this mean?--> In the second stage, the amount of carbon in the pig iron is lowered by oxidation to yield wrought iron, steel, or cast iron.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1073}}<!--https://books.google.com/books?id=xkVPNtRagDkC--> Other metals can be added at this stage to form ]s. | |||
====Blast furnace processing==== | |||
Many animals incorporate iron into the ] complex, an essential component of ]s, which are proteins involved in ] reactions (including but not limited to ]), and of oxygen carrying proteins ] and ]. Inorganic iron involved in redox reactions is also found in the ]s of many ]s, such as ] (involved in the synthesis of ] from ] and ]) and ]. A class of ] is responsible for a wide range of functions within several life forms, such as ] ] (oxidizes ] to ]), ] (reduces ] to ]; ]), ]s (] transport and fixation in ]s) and ] (] of ] ]s). When the body is fighting a bacterial ], the body sequesters iron inside of cells (mostly stored in the storage molecule ]) so that it cannot be used by bacteria. | |||
{{Main|Blast furnace}} | |||
The blast furnace is loaded with iron ores, usually ] {{chem2|Fe2O3}} or ] {{chem2|Fe3O4}}, along with coke (] that has been separately baked to remove volatile components) and ] (] or ]). "Blasts" of air pre-heated to 900 °C (sometimes with oxygen enrichment) is blown through the mixture, in sufficient amount to turn the carbon into ]:{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1073}} | |||
:{{chem2 | 2 C + O2 -> 2 CO }} | |||
Iron distribution is heavily regulated in ]s, both as a defense against bacterial infection and because of the potential biological toxicity of iron. The iron absorbed from the ] binds to transferrin, and is carried by ] to different ]s. There it gets incorporated, by an as yet unknown mechanism, into target proteins.<ref>{{cite web | |||
|url=http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0000079 | |||
|title=How Mammals Acquire and Distribute Iron Needed for Oxygen-Based Metabolism | |||
|author=Tracey A. Rouault | |||
|accessdate=2006-06-19 | |||
}}</ref>. A lengthier article on the system of human iron regulation can be found in the article on ]. | |||
This reaction raises the temperature to about 2000 °C. The carbon monoxide reduces the iron ore to metallic iron:{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1073}} | |||
=== Nutrition and dietary sources === | |||
Good sources of dietary iron include ], ], ], ]s, ]s, ]s, ], ]s, ], potatoes with skin, bread made from completely whole-grain flour, molasses, ], ], and ]. | |||
:{{chem2 | Fe2O3 + 3 CO -> 2 Fe + 3 CO2 }} | |||
Iron provided by ]s is often found as ]. Iron sulfate is as well absorbed, and less expensive. Elemental iron, despite being absorbed to a much smaller extent, is often added to foods like breakfast cereals or "enriched" wheat flour (and will be listed as "reduced iron" in the list of ingredients). The most bioavailable form of ] (ten to fifteen times more bioavailable than any other) is iron amino acid chelate. <ref name=Ashmead>{{cite book | |||
|last = Ashmead | |||
|first = H. DeWayne | |||
|authorlink = | |||
|coauthors = | |||
|year = 1989 | |||
|title = ''Conversations on Chelation and Mineral Nutrition'' | |||
|publisher = Keats Publishing | |||
|location = | |||
|id = ISBN 0-87983-501-X | |||
}}</ref> The ] for iron varies considerably based on the age, gender, and source of dietary iron (]-based iron has higher ])<ref>{{cite web | |||
|url=http://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/7/294/0.pdf | |||
|title=Dietary Reference Intakes: Elements | |||
|format=PDF | |||
}}</ref>. | |||
Some iron in the high-temperature lower region of the furnace reacts directly with the coke:{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1073}} | |||
===Precautions=== | |||
:{{chem2 | 2 Fe2O3 + 3 C -> 4 Fe + 3 CO2 }} | |||
Excessive iron is toxic to humans, because excess ferrous iron reacts with ]s in the body, producing ]s. Iron becomes toxic when it exceeds the amount of ] needed to bind free iron. In excess, uncontrollable quantities of free radicals are produced. | |||
The flux removes silicaceous minerals in the ore, which would otherwise clog the furnace: The heat of the furnace decomposes the carbonates to ], which reacts with any excess ] to form a ] composed of ] {{chem2|CaSiO3}} or other products. At the furnace's temperature, the metal and the slag are both molten. They collect at the bottom as two immiscible liquid layers (with the slag on top), that are then easily separated.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1073}} The slag can be used as a material in ] construction or to improve mineral-poor soils for ].<ref name="Biddle" /> | |||
] is tightly regulated by the human body, which has no physiologic means of excreting iron and regulates iron solely by regulating uptake. However, too much ingested iron can damage the cells of the ] directly, and may enter the bloodstream by damaging the cells that would otherwise regulate its entry. Once there, it causes damage to cells in the ], ] and elsewhere. This can cause serious problems, including the potential of death from overdose, and long-term organ damage in survivors. | |||
Steelmaking thus remains one of the largest industrial contributors of CO<sub>2</sub> emissions in the world.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Peng |last2=Ryberg |first2=Morten |last3=Yang |first3=Yi |last4=Feng |first4=Kuishuang |last5=Kara |first5=Sami |last6=Hauschild |first6=Michael |last7=Chen |first7=Wei-Qiang |date=2021-04-06 |title=Efficiency stagnation in global steel production urges joint supply- and demand-side mitigation efforts |journal=Nature Communications |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=2066 |doi=10.1038/s41467-021-22245-6 |issn=2041-1723 |pmc=8024266 |pmid=33824307|bibcode=2021NatCo..12.2066W }}</ref> | |||
Humans experience iron toxicity above 20 milligrams of iron for every kilogram of weight, and 60 milligrams per kilogram is a ].<ref> | |||
{{cite web | |||
|url=http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic285.htm | |||
|title=Toxicity, Iron | |||
|publisher=Emidicine | |||
|accessdate=2006-06-19 | |||
}}</ref> Over-consumption of iron, often the result of children eating large quantitities of ] tablets intended for adult consumption, is the most common toxicological cause of death in children under six. The ] lists the Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) for adults as 45 ]/day. For children under fourteen years old the UL is 40 mg/day. | |||
<gallery widths=200 heights=150> | |||
If iron intake is excessive in the context of a genetic predisposition ]s can sometimes result, such as ]. This has been mapped to the HLA-H gene region on chromosome 6. Iron overload disorders require a genetic inability to regulate iron uptake; however, many people have a genetic susceptibility to iron overload without realizing it and without knowing a family history of the problem. For this reason, people should not take iron supplements unless they suffer from ] and have consulted a doctor. ] are at special risk of low iron levels and are often advised to supplement their iron intake. Hemochromatosis is estimated to cause disease in 0.3-0.8 percent of white people.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} | |||
File:Chinese Fining and Blast Furnace.jpg|17th century Chinese illustration of workers at a blast furnace, making wrought iron from pig iron<ref name="song">] (1637): The ''Tiangong Kaiwu'' encyclopedia.</ref> | |||
File:Iron-Making.jpg|How iron was extracted in the 19th century | |||
File:Geography of Ohio - DPLA - aaba7b3295ff6973b6fd1e23e33cde14 (page 111) (cropped).jpg|Iron furnace in Columbus, Ohio, 1922 | |||
</gallery> | |||
====Steelmaking==== | |||
The medical management of iron toxicity is complex. One element of the medical approach is a specific ] agent called deferoxamine, used to bind and expel excess iron from the body in case of iron toxicity. | |||
{{Main|Steelmaking|Ironworks}} | |||
<!-- Several other articles cover the material that might go into this section: please do not expand it excessively. This article concerns all aspects of the element iron, and should thus NOT be overburdened with details of metallurgy... Agree. Should be a summary. --> | |||
The pig iron produced by the blast furnace process contains up to 4–5% carbon (by mass), with small amounts of other impurities like sulfur, magnesium, phosphorus, and manganese. This high level of carbon makes it relatively weak and brittle. Reducing the amount of carbon to 0.002–2.1% produces ], which may be up to 1000 times harder than pure iron. A great variety of steel articles can then be made by ], ], ], ], etc. Removing the impurities from pig iron, but leaving 2–4% carbon, results in ], which is cast by ] into articles such as stoves, pipes, radiators, lamp-posts, and rails.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1073}} | |||
Steel products often undergo various ]s after they are forged to shape. ] consists of heating them to 700–800 °C for several hours and then gradual cooling. It makes the steel softer and more workable.<ref name="Verhoeven">Verhoeven, J.D. (1975) ''Fundamentals of Physical Metallurgy'', Wiley, New York, p. 326</ref> | |||
==Bibliography== | |||
<!--why is this in production of iron?Steel may be hardened by ]. The metal is bent or hammered into its final shape at a relatively cool temperature. Cold forging is the stamping of a piece of steel into shape by a heavy press. Wrenches are commonly made by cold forging. Cold rolling, which involves making a thinner but harder sheet, and cold drawing, which makes a thinner but stronger wire, are two other methods of cold working. To harden the steel, it is heated to red-hot and then cooled by quenching it in the water. It becomes harder and more brittle. If it is too hardened, it is then heated to a required temperature and allowed to cool. The steel thus formed is less brittle. | |||
* | |||
*H. R. Schubert, ''History of the British Iron and Steel Industry ... to 1775 AD'' (Routledge, London, 1957) | |||
*R. F. Tylecote, ''History of Metallurgy'' (Institute of Materials, London 1992). | |||
*R. F. Tylecote, 'Iron in the Industrial Revolution' in J. Day and R. F. Tylecote, ''The Industrial Revolution in Metals'' (Institute of Materials 1991), 200-60. | |||
] is another way to harden steel. The steel is heated red-hot, then cooled quickly. The iron carbide molecules are decomposed by the heat, but do not have time to reform. Since the free carbon atoms are stuck, it makes the steel much harder and stronger than before.<ref name="Biddle" /> | |||
==References== | |||
<references/> | |||
Sometimes both toughness and hardness are desired. A process called ] may be used. Steel is heated to about 900 °C then plunged into oil or water. Carbon from the oil can diffuse into the steel, making the surface very hard. The surface cools quickly, but the inside cools slowly, making an extremely hard surface and a durable, resistant inner layer. | |||
==See also== | |||
Iron may be ] by dipping it into a concentrated ] solution. This forms a protective layer of oxide on the metal, protecting it from further corrosion.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.euro-inox.org/pdf/map/Passivating_Pickling_EN.pdf |title=Picking and passivating stainless steel, Materials and Application Series, Volume 4 |publisher=Euro Inox |year=2007 |edition=2nd |isbn=978-2-87997-224-4}}</ref>--> | |||
<gallery widths="200" heights="150"> | |||
File:LightningVolt Iron Ore Pellets.jpg|This heap of iron ore pellets will be used in steel production. | |||
File:Melted raw-iron.jpg|A pot of molten iron being used to make steel | |||
</gallery> | |||
===Direct iron reduction=== | |||
Owing to environmental concerns, alternative methods of processing iron have been developed. "]" ] to a ferrous lump called ] or "direct" iron that is suitable for steelmaking.<ref name="Biddle" /> Two main reactions comprise the direct reduction process: | |||
Natural gas is partially oxidized (with heat and a catalyst):<ref name="Biddle" /> | |||
:{{chem2 | 2 CH4 + O2 -> 2 CO + 4 H2 }} | |||
Iron ore is then treated with these gases in a furnace, producing solid sponge iron:<ref name="Biddle" /> | |||
:{{chem2 | Fe2O3 + CO + 2 H2 -> 2 Fe + CO2 + 2 H2O }} | |||
] is removed by adding a ] flux as described above.<ref name="Biddle" /> | |||
===Thermite process=== | |||
{{Main|Thermite}} | |||
Ignition of a mixture of aluminium powder and iron oxide yields metallic iron via the ]: | |||
:{{chem2 | Fe2O3 + 2 Al -> 2 Fe + Al2O3 }} | |||
Alternatively pig iron may be made into steel (with up to about 2% carbon) or wrought iron (commercially pure iron). Various processes have been used for this, including ]s, ] furnaces, ]s, ]s, ]s, and ]s. In all cases, the objective is to oxidize some or all of the carbon, together with other impurities. On the other hand, other metals may be added to make alloy steels.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1072}}<!-- why is this in production? The hardness of the steel depends upon its carbon content: the higher the percentage of carbon, the greater the hardness and the lesser the malleability. The properties of the steel can also be changed by several methods.--> | |||
=== Molten oxide electrolysis === | |||
Molten oxide electrolysis (MOE) uses ] of molten iron oxide to yield metallic iron. It is studied in laboratory-scale experiments and is proposed as a method for industrial iron production that has no direct emissions of carbon dioxide. It uses a liquid iron cathode, an anode formed from an alloy of chromium, aluminium and iron,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Allanore |first1=Antoine |last2=Yin |first2=Lan |last3=Sadoway |first3=Donald R. |title=A new anode material for oxygen evolution in molten oxide electrolysis |journal=Nature |volume=497 |date=2013 |issue=7449 |issn=0028-0836 |doi=10.1038/nature12134 |pages=353–356|pmid=23657254 |bibcode=2013Natur.497..353A |hdl=1721.1/82073 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> and the electrolyte is a mixture of molten metal oxides into which iron ore is dissolved. The current keeps the electrolyte molten and reduces the iron oxide. Oxygen gas is produced in addition to liquid iron. The only carbon dioxide emissions come from any ]-generated electricity used to heat and reduce the metal.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wiencke |first1=Jan |last2=Lavelaine |first2=Hervé |last3=Panteix |first3=Pierre-Jean |last4=Petitjean |first4=Carine |last5=Rapin |first5=Christophe |title=Electrolysis of iron in a molten oxide electrolyte |journal=Journal of Applied Electrochemistry |volume=48 |issue=1 |date=2018 |issn=0021-891X |doi=10.1007/s10800-017-1143-5 |pages=115–126|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fan |first1=Zhiyuan |last2=Friedmann |first2=S. Julio |title=Low-carbon production of iron and steel: Technology options, economic assessment, and policy |journal=Joule |volume=5 |date=2021 |issue=4 |doi=10.1016/j.joule.2021.02.018 |pages=829–862|doi-access=free |bibcode=2021Joule...5..829F }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Gallucci |first1=Maria |title=Boston Metal gets big funding boost to make green steel |url=https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/clean-industry/boston-metal-gets-big-funding-boost-to-make-green-steel |access-date=11 March 2024 |work=Canary Media |publisher=] |date=September 7, 2023}}</ref> | |||
==Applications== | |||
{|class="wikitable floatright" | |||
|+ Characteristic values of ] (TS) and ] (BH) of various forms of iron.<ref name="pure">{{Cite book| url={{Google books|-Ll6qjWB-RUC|page=PA164|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}| pages=164–67| title=Handbook of materials and techniques for vacuum devices|last=Kohl|first= Walter H.| publisher=Springer| date=1995| isbn=1-56396-387-6}}</ref><ref name="corr">{{Cite book| url=https://www.gorni.eng.br/e/Gorni_SFHTHandbook.pdf| title=ASM Handbook – Mechanical Testing and Evaluation| publisher=ASM International| volume=8| date=2000| page=275| isbn=0-87170-389-0| editor=Kuhn, Howard| editor2=Medlin, Dana| display-editors=etal| access-date=22 February 2022| archive-date=9 February 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209231645/http://www.gorni.eng.br/e/Gorni_SFHTHandbook.pdf| url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
!Material | |||
!TS <br />(MPa) | |||
!BH <br />(]) | |||
|- | |||
|] | |||
|11000 | |||
| | |||
|- | |||
|Ausformed (hardened) <br />steel | |||
|2930 | |||
|850–1200 | |||
|- | |||
|] | |||
|2070 | |||
|600 | |||
|- | |||
|] | |||
|1380 | |||
|400 | |||
|- | |||
|] | |||
|1200 | |||
|350 | |||
|- | |||
|] iron | |||
|690 | |||
|200 | |||
|- | |||
|Small-grain iron | |||
|340 | |||
|100 | |||
|- | |||
|Carbon-containing iron | |||
|140 | |||
|40 | |||
|- | |||
|Pure, single-crystal iron | |||
|10 | |||
|3 | |||
|} | |||
===As structural material=== | |||
Iron is the most widely used of all the metals, accounting for over 90% of worldwide metal production.<!-- The UGSG gives a production of iron including recycling with 998Mt, while aluminium (39Mt), copper (18Mt), zinc (11Mt) and lead (8.6Mt) add up to 77 Mt, all including recycling. This more like 8% than 5.--> Its low cost and high strength often make it the material of choice to withstand stress or transmit forces, such as the construction of machinery and ]s, ], ]s, ], ], and the load-carrying framework of buildings. Since pure iron is quite soft, it is most commonly combined with alloying elements to make steel.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1070–71}} | |||
====Mechanical properties==== | |||
The mechanical properties of iron and its alloys are extremely relevant to their structural applications. Those properties can be evaluated in various ways, including the ], the ] and the ]. | |||
The properties of pure iron are often used to calibrate measurements or to compare tests.<ref name="corr" /><ref>{{cite web| url=https://mdmetric.com/tech/hardnessconversion.html| title=Hardness Conversion Chart| access-date=23 May 2010| publisher=Maryland Metrics| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150618071701/https://mdmetric.com/tech/hardnessconversion.html| archive-date=18 June 2015}}</ref> However, the mechanical properties of iron are significantly affected by the sample's purity: pure, single crystals of iron are actually softer than aluminium,<ref name="pure" /> and the purest industrially produced iron (99.99%) has a hardness of 20–30 Brinell.<ref>{{Cite journal| title=Properties of Various Pure Irons: Study on pure iron I| url=https://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110001459778/en| volume=50| issue=1| pages=42–47| journal=Tetsu-to-Hagane| first1 = Kusakawa|last1 = Takaji|first2 = Otani|last2 =Toshikatsu| date=1964| doi=10.2355/tetsutohagane1955.50.1_42| doi-access=free}}</ref> The pure iron (99.9%~99.999%), especially called ], is industrially produced by ]. | |||
An increase in the carbon content will cause a significant increase in the hardness and tensile strength of iron. Maximum hardness of ] is achieved with a 0.6% carbon content, although the alloy has low tensile strength.<ref>{{Cite book| url={{Google books|LgB5dkmPML0C|page=PA218|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}| page=218| title=Materials Science and Engineering|first=V.| last= Raghavan| publisher =PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.|isbn=81-203-2455-2 |date=2004}}</ref> Because of the softness of iron, it is much easier to work with than its heavier ] ] and ].{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1074–75}} | |||
====Types of steels and alloys==== | |||
{{See also|Steel}} | |||
] | |||
α-Iron is a fairly soft metal that can dissolve only a small concentration of carbon (no more than 0.021% by mass at 910 °C).<ref>{{Cite book|url={{Google books|xv420pEC2qMC|page=PA183|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}| page=183| title=Concise encyclopedia of the structure of materials| first=John Wilson|last = Martin| publisher=Elsevier| date= 2007|isbn=978-0-08-045127-5}}</ref> ] (γ-iron) is similarly soft and metallic but can dissolve considerably more carbon (as much as 2.04% by mass at 1146 °C). This form of iron is used in the type of ] used for making cutlery, and hospital and food-service equipment.<ref name="Metallo" /> | |||
Commercially available iron is classified based on purity and the abundance of additives. ] has 3.5–4.5% carbon<ref name="msts">{{Cite book|last1 = Camp|first1 = James McIntyre|last2 = Francis |first2 = Charles Blaine|title = The Making, Shaping and Treating of Steel|publisher = Carnegie Steel Company |date=1920|location = Pittsburgh|pages = 173–74|url={{Google books|P9MxAAAAMAAJ|keywords=|text=|plain-url=yes}}|isbn = 1-147-64423-3}}</ref> and contains varying amounts of contaminants such as ], silicon and ]. Pig iron is not a saleable product, but rather an intermediate step in the production of cast iron and steel. The reduction of contaminants in pig iron that negatively affect material properties, such as sulfur and phosphorus, yields cast iron containing 2–4% carbon, 1–6% silicon, and small amounts of ].{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1073}} Pig iron has a ] in the range of 1420–1470 K, which is lower than either of its two main components, and makes it the first product to be melted when carbon and iron are heated together.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1075–79}} Its mechanical properties vary greatly and depend on the form the carbon takes in the alloy.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1074–75}} | |||
"White" cast irons contain their carbon in the form of ], or iron carbide (Fe<sub>3</sub>C).{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1074–75}} This hard, brittle compound dominates the mechanical properties of white cast irons, rendering them hard, but unresistant to shock. The broken surface of a white cast iron is full of fine facets of the broken iron carbide, a very pale, silvery, shiny material, hence the appellation. Cooling a mixture of iron with 0.8% carbon slowly below 723 °C to room temperature results in separate, alternating layers of cementite and α-iron, which is soft and malleable and is called ] for its appearance. Rapid cooling, on the other hand, does not allow time for this separation and creates hard and brittle ]. The steel can then be tempered by reheating to a temperature in between, changing the proportions of pearlite and martensite. The end product below 0.8% carbon content is a pearlite-αFe mixture, and that above 0.8% carbon content is a pearlite-cementite mixture.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1074–75}} | |||
In ] the carbon exists as separate, fine flakes of ], and also renders the material brittle due to the sharp edged flakes of graphite that produce ] sites within the material.<ref name="Hashemi">{{Citation | last1 = Smith | first1 = William F. | last2 = Hashemi | first2 = Javad | title = Foundations of Materials Science and Engineering | edition = 4th | year = 2006 | publisher = McGraw-Hill | isbn = 0-07-295358-6 | postscript =. |page=431}}</ref> A newer variant of gray iron, referred to as ], is specially treated with trace amounts of ] to alter the shape of graphite to spheroids, or nodules, reducing the stress concentrations and vastly increasing the toughness and strength of the material.<ref name="Hashemi" /> | |||
] contains less than 0.25% carbon but large amounts of ] that give it a fibrous characteristic.<ref name="msts" /> Wrought iron is more corrosion resistant than steel. It has been almost completely replaced by ], which corrodes more readily than wrought iron, but is cheaper and more widely available. ] contains 2.0% carbon or less,<ref name="kts">{{cite web|title=Classification of Carbon and Low-Alloy Steels |url=https://www.keytometals.com/page.aspx?ID=CheckArticle&site=kts&NM=62 |access-date=5 January 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110102110320/http://www.keytometals.com/page.aspx?ID=CheckArticle&site=kts&NM=62}}</ref> with small amounts of ], ], ], and silicon. ]s contain varying amounts of carbon as well as other metals, such as ], ], ], nickel, ], etc. Their alloy content raises their cost, and so they are usually only employed for specialist uses. One common alloy steel, though, is ]. Recent developments in ferrous metallurgy have produced a growing range of microalloyed steels, also termed ']' or high-strength, low alloy steels, containing tiny additions to produce high strengths and often spectacular toughness at minimal cost.<ref name="kts" /><ref>{{cite web |title=HSLA Steel |date=2002-11-15 |url=https://machinedesign.com/BasicsOfDesignEngineeringItem/717/65970/HSLASteel.aspx |access-date=2008-10-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091230082918/https://machinedesign.com/article/hsla-steel-1115 |archive-date=30 December 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Oberg |first=E. |title=Machinery's Handbook |place=New York |publisher=Industrial Press |edition=25th |year=1996 |display-authors=etal |pages=440–42 |bibcode=1984msh..book.....R}}</ref> | |||
Alloys with high purity elemental makeups (such as alloys of ]) have specifically enhanced properties such as ], ], ], ], heat resistance, and corrosion resistance. | |||
Apart from traditional applications, iron is also used for protection from ionizing radiation. Although it is lighter than another traditional protection material, ], it is much stronger mechanically.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.slac.stanford.edu/cgi-wrap/getdoc/slac-pub-13033.pdf |title=Radiation Shielding at High-Energy Electron and Proton Accelerators |last1=Rokni |first1=Sayed H. |last2=Cossairt |first2=J. Donald |last3=Liu |first3=James C. |date=January 2008 |access-date=6 August 2016}}</ref> | |||
The main disadvantage of iron and steel is that pure iron, and most of its alloys, suffer badly from ] if not protected in some way, a cost amounting to over 1% of the world's economy.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1076}} ]ing, ], ], plastic coating and ] are all used to protect iron from rust by excluding ] and oxygen or by ]. The mechanism of the rusting of iron is as follows:{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1076}} | |||
:Cathode: 3 O<sub>2</sub> + 6 H<sub>2</sub>O + 12 e<sup>−</sup> → 12 OH<sup>−</sup> | |||
:Anode: 4 Fe → 4 Fe<sup>2+</sup> + 8 e<sup>−</sup>; 4 Fe<sup>2+</sup> → 4 Fe<sup>3+</sup> + 4 e<sup>−</sup> | |||
:Overall: 4 Fe + 3 O<sub>2</sub> + 6 H<sub>2</sub>O → 4 Fe<sup>3+</sup> + 12 OH<sup>−</sup> → 4 Fe(OH)<sub>3</sub> or 4 FeO(OH) + 4 H<sub>2</sub>O | |||
The electrolyte is usually ] in urban areas (formed when atmospheric ] attacks iron), and salt particles in the atmosphere in seaside areas.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|p=1076}} | |||
===Catalysts and reagents=== | |||
Because Fe is inexpensive and nontoxic, much effort has been devoted to the development of Fe-based catalysts and ]s. Iron is however less common as a catalyst in commercial processes than more expensive metals.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1021/acscentsci.6b00272|title=Iron Catalysis in Organic Synthesis: A Critical Assessment of What It Takes to Make This Base Metal a Multitasking Champion |year=2016 |last1=Fürstner |first1=Alois |journal=ACS Central Science |volume=2 |issue=11 |pages=778–789 |pmid=27981231 |pmc=5140022 }}</ref> In biology, Fe-containing enzymes are pervasive.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1126/science.abc3183|title=Using nature's blueprint to expand catalysis with Earth-abundant metals |year=2020 |last1=Bullock |first1=R. Morris |display-authors=etal |journal=Science |volume=369 |issue=6505 |pages=eabc3183 |pmid=32792370 |pmc=7875315 }}</ref> | |||
Iron catalysts are traditionally used in the ] for the production of ammonia and the ] for conversion of carbon monoxide to ]s for fuels and lubricants.<ref>{{Cite book| title = Surface science: foundations of catalysis and nanoscience|first = Kurt W.|last = Kolasinski|isbn = 978-0-471-49244-3| publisher =John Wiley and Sons|date = 2002|chapter-url={{Google books|OA7L1l6oHAYC|page=PR15|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|chapter = Where are Heterogenous Reactions Important|pages = 15–16}}</ref> Powdered iron in an acidic medium is used in the ], the conversion of ] to ].<ref>{{Cite book| chapter-url={{Google books|BiywGdlot9kC|page=PA167|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|chapter = Nitrobenzene and Nitrotoluene |isbn = 978-0-8247-2481-8|publisher = CRC Press|date = 1989|first = John J.|last = McKetta|title = Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing and Design: Volume 31 – Natural Gas Liquids and Natural Gasoline to Offshore Process Piping: High Performance Alloys|pages = 166–67}}</ref> | |||
===Iron compounds=== | |||
] mixed with ] powder can be ignited to create a ], used in welding large iron parts (like ]s) and purifying ores. Iron(III) oxide and ] are used as reddish and ocher ]s. | |||
] finds use in water purification and ], in the dyeing of cloth, as a coloring agent in paints, as an additive in animal feed, and as an ] for ] in the manufacture of ]s.<ref name="Ullmann">{{Cite encyclopedia| doi = 10.1002/14356007.a14_591| encyclopedia = Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry| date = 2000| last1 = Wildermuth| first1 = Egon| last2 = Stark| first2 = Hans| last3 = Friedrich| first3 = Gabriele| last4 = Ebenhöch| first4 = Franz Ludwig| last5 = Kühborth| first5 = Brigitte| last6 = Silver| first6 = Jack| last7 = Rituper| first7 = Rafael| isbn = 3-527-30673-0| chapter = Iron Compounds}}</ref> It can also be dissolved in alcohol to form tincture of iron, which is used as a medicine to stop bleeding in ].<ref>{{cite book |last=Stroud |first=Robert |date=1933 |title=Diseases of Canaries |publisher=Canary Publishers Company |page=203 |isbn=978-1-4465-4656-7|title-link=Diseases of Canaries }}</ref> | |||
] is used as a precursor to other iron compounds. It is also used to ] chromate in cement. It is used to fortify foods and treat ]. ] is used in settling minute sewage particles in tank water. ] is used as a reducing flocculating agent, in the formation of iron complexes and magnetic iron oxides, and as a reducing agent in organic synthesis.<ref name="Ullmann" /> | |||
] is a drug used as a ]. It is on the ].<ref name="WHO22nd">{{cite book | vauthors = ((World Health Organization)) | title = World Health Organization model list of essential medicines: 22nd list (2021) | year = 2021 | hdl = 10665/345533 | author-link = World Health Organization | publisher = World Health Organization | location = Geneva | id = WHO/MHP/HPS/EML/2021.02 | hdl-access=free}}</ref> | |||
==Biological and pathological role== | |||
{{Main|Iron in biology}} | |||
Iron is required for life.<ref name="lpi" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Dlouhy |first1=Adrienne C. |last2=Outten |first2=Caryn E. |chapter=The Iron Metallome in Eukaryotic Organisms |editor1-first=Lucia |editor1-last=Banci |series=Metal Ions in Life Sciences |volume=12 |pages=241–78 |title=Metallomics and the Cell |date=2013 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-94-007-5560-4|doi=10.1007/978-94-007-5561-1_8|pmid=23595675 |pmc=3924584}} electronic-book {{ISBN|978-94-007-5561-1}}</ref><ref> | |||
{{cite book |first1=Gereon M. |last1=Yee |first2=William B. |last2=Tolman |editor=Peter M.H. Kroneck |editor2=Martha E. Sosa Torres |title=Sustaining Life on Planet Earth: Metalloenzymes Mastering Dioxygen and Other Chewy Gases |chapter=Transition Metal Complexes and the Activation of Dioxygen |series=Metal Ions in Life Sciences |volume=15 |year=2015 |publisher=Springer |pages=131–204 |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-12415-5_5 |pmid=25707468|isbn=978-3-319-12414-8 }} | |||
</ref> The ]s are pervasive and include ], the enzymes responsible for biological ]. Iron-containing proteins participate in transport, storage and use of oxygen.<ref name="lpi" /> Iron proteins are involved in ].{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1098–104}} | |||
]; in the protein additional ](s) are attached to Fe.]] | |||
Examples of iron-containing proteins in higher organisms include hemoglobin, ] (see ]), and ].<ref name="lpi" /><ref>{{Cite book| first1 = S.J.|last1 = Lippard|first2 = J.M.|last2 = Berg|title = Principles of Bioinorganic Chemistry|publisher = University Science Books|place = Mill Valley|date = 1994|isbn = 0-935702-73-3}}</ref> The average adult human contains about 0.005% body weight of iron, or about four grams, of which three quarters is in hemoglobin—a level that remains constant despite only about one milligram of iron being absorbed each day,{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1098–104}} because the human body recycles its hemoglobin for the iron content.<ref>{{Cite journal | |||
| last1 = Kikuchi | first1 = G. | |||
| last2 = Yoshida | first2 = T. | |||
| last3 = Noguchi | first3 = M. | |||
| doi = 10.1016/j.bbrc.2005.08.020 | |||
| title = Heme oxygenase and heme degradation | |||
| journal = Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications | |||
| volume = 338 | |||
| issue = 1 | |||
| pages = 558–67 | |||
| year = 2005 | |||
| pmid = 16115609 | |||
}}</ref> | |||
Microbial growth may be assisted by oxidation of iron(II) or by reduction of iron(III).<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1515/9783110589771-006 |chapter=Contents of Volumes in the Metal Ions in Life Sciences Series |title=Metals, Microbes, and Minerals - the Biogeochemical Side of Life |year=2021 |pages=xxv-xlvi |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=9783110589771|s2cid=196704759 }}</ref> | |||
===Biochemistry=== | |||
Iron acquisition poses a problem for aerobic organisms because ferric iron is poorly soluble near neutral pH. Thus, these organisms have developed means to absorb iron as complexes, sometimes taking up ferrous iron before oxidising it back to ferric iron.<ref name="lpi" /> In particular, bacteria have evolved very high-affinity ] agents called ]s.<ref>{{Cite journal |pmid=7592901 |doi=10.1074/jbc.270.45.26723 |date=1995 |last1=Neilands |first1=J.B. |title=Siderophores: structure and function of microbial iron transport compounds |volume=270 |issue=45 |pages=26723–26 |journal=The Journal of Biological Chemistry |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1146/annurev.bi.50.070181.003435 |title=Microbial Iron Compounds |date=1981 |last1=Neilands |first1=J.B. |journal=Annual Review of Biochemistry |volume=50 |pages=715–31 |pmid=6455965|issue=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| doi=10.1023/A:1020218608266 |date=2002 |last1=Boukhalfa |first1=Hakim |last2=Crumbliss |first2=Alvin L. |journal=BioMetals |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=325–39 |pmid=12405526 |title=Chemical aspects of siderophore mediated iron transport |s2cid=19697776}}</ref> | |||
After uptake in human ], iron storage is precisely regulated.<ref name="lpi" /><ref>{{Cite journal |title=Tumor necrosis factor-α-induced iron sequestration and oxidative stress in human endothelial cells |last11=Nakanishi |first11=T. |last10=Suzuki |first10=K. |first9=H. |last9=Eguchi |first8=M. |last8=Izumi |first7=Y. |last7=Hasuike |first6=K. |last6=Miyagawa |first5=R. |last5=Moriguchi |first4=K. |last4=Ito |first3=Y. |last3=Otaki |first2=T. |last2=Ookawara |first1=M. |last1=Nanami |pmid=16224057 |journal=Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology |date=2005 |volume=25 |issue=12 |pages=2495–501 |doi=10.1161/01.ATV.0000190610.63878.20 |doi-access=free}}</ref> A major component of this regulation is the protein ], which binds iron ions absorbed from the ] and carries it in the ] to cells.<ref name="lpi" /><ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0000079|title=How Mammals Acquire and Distribute Iron Needed for Oxygen-Based Metabolism|date=2003|last=Rouault|first = Tracey A.|author-link=Tracey Rouault|journal=PLOS Biology |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=e9 |pmid=14691550|pmc=300689 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Transferrin contains Fe<sup>3+</sup> in the middle of a distorted octahedron, bonded to one nitrogen, three oxygens and a chelating ] anion that traps the Fe<sup>3+</sup> ion: it has such a high ] that it is very effective at taking up Fe<sup>3+</sup> ions even from the most stable complexes. At the bone marrow, transferrin is reduced from Fe<sup>3+</sup> to Fe<sup>2+</sup> and stored as ] to be incorporated into hemoglobin.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1098–104}} <!--Inorganic iron contributes to redox reactions in the ]s of many ]s, such as ] (involved in the synthesis of ] from ] and ]) and ]. Non-heme iron proteins include the ] ] (oxidizes ] to ]), ] (reduces ] to ]; ]), ]s (] transport and fixation in ]) and purple ] (] of ] ]s).--> | |||
The most commonly known and studied ] iron compounds (biological iron molecules) are the ]: examples are ], ], and ].<ref name="lpi" /> These compounds participate in transporting gases, building ], and transferring ]s.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1098–104}} ] are a group of proteins with metal ion ]. Some examples of iron metalloproteins are ] and ].{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1098–104}} Many enzymes vital to life contain iron, such as ],<ref name="Boon_b">{{cite web |vauthors=Boon EM, Downs A, Marcey D |title=Proposed Mechanism of Catalase |work=Catalase: H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>: H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> Oxidoreductase: Catalase Structural Tutorial |url=https://biology.kenyon.edu/BMB/Chime/catalase/frames/cattx.htm#Proposed%20Mechanism%20of%20Catalase |access-date=2007-02-11}}</ref> ],<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Boyington JC, Gaffney BJ, Amzel LM |title=The three-dimensional structure of an arachidonic acid 15-lipoxygenase |journal=Science |volume=260 |issue=5113 |pages=1482–86 |year=1993 |pmid=8502991 |doi=10.1126/science.8502991 |bibcode=1993Sci...260.1482B}}</ref> and ].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gray |first1=N.K. |last2=Hentze |first2=M.W. |title=Iron regulatory protein prevents binding of the 43S translation pre-initiation complex to ferritin and eALAS mRNAs |journal=EMBO J. |volume=13 |number=16 |pages=3882–91 |date=August 1994 |pmc=395301 |pmid=8070415 |doi=10.1002/j.1460-2075.1994.tb06699.x}}</ref> | |||
Hemoglobin is an oxygen carrier that occurs in ]s and contributes their color, transporting oxygen in the arteries from the lungs to the muscles where it is transferred to ], which stores it until it is needed for the metabolic oxidation of ], generating energy.<ref name="lpi" /> Here the hemoglobin binds to ], produced when glucose is oxidized, which is transported through the veins by hemoglobin (predominantly as ] anions) back to the lungs where it is exhaled.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1098–104}} In hemoglobin, the iron is in one of four ] groups and has six possible coordination sites; four are occupied by nitrogen atoms in a ] ring, the fifth by an ] nitrogen in a ] residue of one of the protein chains attached to the heme group, and the sixth is reserved for the oxygen molecule it can reversibly bind to.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1098–104}} When hemoglobin is not attached to oxygen (and is then called deoxyhemoglobin), the Fe<sup>2+</sup> ion at the center of the ] group (in the hydrophobic protein interior) is in a ]. It is thus too large to fit inside the porphyrin ring, which bends instead into a dome with the Fe<sup>2+</sup> ion about 55 picometers above it. In this configuration, the sixth coordination site reserved for the oxygen is blocked by another histidine residue.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1098–104}} | |||
When deoxyhemoglobin picks up an oxygen molecule, this histidine residue moves away and returns once the oxygen is securely attached to form a ] with it. This results in the Fe<sup>2+</sup> ion switching to a low-spin configuration, resulting in a 20% decrease in ionic radius so that now it can fit into the porphyrin ring, which becomes planar.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1098–104}} Additionally, this hydrogen bonding results in the tilting of the oxygen molecule, resulting in a Fe–O–O bond angle of around 120° that avoids the formation of Fe–O–Fe or Fe–O<sub>2</sub>–Fe bridges that would lead to electron transfer, the oxidation of Fe<sup>2+</sup> to Fe<sup>3+</sup>, and the destruction of hemoglobin. This results in a movement of all the protein chains that leads to the other subunits of hemoglobin changing shape to a form with larger oxygen affinity. Thus, when deoxyhemoglobin takes up oxygen, its affinity for more oxygen increases, and vice versa.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1098–104}} Myoglobin, on the other hand, contains only one heme group and hence this cooperative effect cannot occur. Thus, while hemoglobin is almost saturated with oxygen in the high partial pressures of oxygen found in the lungs, its affinity for oxygen is much lower than that of myoglobin, which oxygenates even at low partial pressures of oxygen found in muscle tissue.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1098–104}} As described by the ] (named after ], the father of ]), the oxygen affinity of hemoglobin diminishes in the presence of carbon dioxide.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1098–104}} | |||
], showing the ] at the apical position, ''trans'' to the histidine residue<ref>{{cite journal | journal = Acta Crystallogr. D | title = Human Carboxyhemoglobin at 2.2 Å Resolution: Structure and Solvent Comparisons of R-State, R2-State and T-State Hemoglobins |author1=Gregory B. Vásquez |author2=Xinhua Ji |author3=Clara Fronticelli |author4=Gary L. Gilliland | doi = 10.1107/S0907444997012250 | pmid = 9761903 | volume = 54 | issue = 3 | pages = 355–66 | year = 1998| doi-access = free | bibcode = 1998AcCrD..54..355V }}</ref>]] | |||
] and ] are poisonous to humans because they bind to hemoglobin similarly to oxygen, but with much more strength, so that oxygen can no longer be transported throughout the body. Hemoglobin bound to carbon monoxide is known as ]. This effect also plays a minor role in the toxicity of ], but there the major effect is by far its interference with the proper functioning of the electron transport protein ].{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1098–104}} The cytochrome proteins also involve heme groups and are involved in the metabolic oxidation of glucose by oxygen. The sixth coordination site is then occupied by either another imidazole nitrogen or a ] sulfur, so that these proteins are largely inert to oxygen—with the exception of cytochrome a, which bonds directly to oxygen and thus is very easily poisoned by cyanide.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1098–104}} Here, the electron transfer takes place as the iron remains in low spin but changes between the +2 and +3 oxidation states. Since the reduction potential of each step is slightly greater than the previous one, the energy is released step-by-step and can thus be stored in ]. Cytochrome a is slightly distinct, as it occurs at the mitochondrial membrane, binds directly to oxygen, and transports protons as well as electrons, as follows:{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1098–104}} | |||
:4 Cytc<sup>2+</sup> + O<sub>2</sub> + 8H{{su|p=+|b=inside}} → 4 Cytc<sup>3+</sup> + 2 H<sub>2</sub>O + 4H{{su|p=+|b=outside}} | |||
Although the heme proteins are the most important class of iron-containing proteins, the ]s are also very important, being involved in electron transfer, which is possible since iron can exist stably in either the +2 or +3 oxidation states. These have one, two, four, or eight iron atoms that are each approximately tetrahedrally coordinated to four sulfur atoms; because of this tetrahedral coordination, they always have high-spin iron. The simplest of such compounds is ], which has only one iron atom coordinated to four sulfur atoms from ] residues in the surrounding peptide chains. Another important class of iron–sulfur proteins is the ]s, which have multiple iron atoms. Transferrin does not belong to either of these classes.{{sfn|Greenwood|Earnshaw|1997|pp=1098–104}} | |||
The ability of sea ]s to maintain their grip on rocks in the ocean is facilitated by their use of ] iron-based bonds in their protein-rich ]s. Based on synthetic replicas, the presence of iron in these structures increased ] 770 times, ] 58 times, and ] 92 times. The amount of stress required to permanently damage them increased 76 times.<ref>{{Cite journal| first = K| last = Sanderson|title = Mussels' iron grip inspires strong and stretchy polymer| journal = Chemical & Engineering News|page=8|volume = 95| issue = 44| publisher = American Chemical Society| date = 2017| url=https://cen.acs.org/articles/95/i44/Mussels-iron-grip-inspires-strong-stretchy-polymer.html|access-date=2 November 2017| doi=10.1021/cen-09544-notw3}}</ref> | |||
===Nutrition=== | |||
==== Diet==== | |||
Iron is pervasive, but particularly rich sources of dietary iron include ], ]s, ]s, ], ], ]s, ], ], and ].<ref name="lpi" /> ] and ]s are sometimes specifically fortified with iron.<ref name="lpi" /><ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060808184739/https://www.eatwell.gov.uk/healthissues/irondeficiency/ |date=8 August 2006 }}. Eatwell.gov.uk (5 March 2012). Retrieved on 27 June 2012.</ref> | |||
Iron provided by ]s is often found as ], although ] is cheaper and is absorbed equally well.<ref name="Ullmann" /> Elemental iron, or reduced iron, despite being absorbed at only one-third to two-thirds the efficiency (relative to iron sulfate),<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hoppe|first1=M.|last2=Hulthén|first2=L.|last3=Hallberg|first3=L.|title=The relative bioavailability in humans of elemental iron powders for use in food fortification|journal=European Journal of Nutrition|volume=45|issue=1|pages=37–44|date=2005|pmid=15864409|doi=10.1007/s00394-005-0560-0|s2cid=42983904}}</ref> is often added to foods such as breakfast cereals or enriched wheat flour. Iron is most available to the body when ] to amino acids<ref name="pmid11377130">{{Cite journal|title=Effectiveness of treatment of iron-deficiency anemia in infants and young children with ferrous bis-glycinate chelate |journal=Nutrition |volume=17 |issue=5 |pages=381–4 |date=2001 |pmid=11377130| doi = 10.1016/S0899-9007(01)00519-6 |last1=Pineda |first1=O. |last2=Ashmead |first2=H. D.}}</ref> and is also available for use as a common ]. ], the least expensive amino acid, is most often used to produce iron glycinate supplements.<ref name="Ashmead">{{Cite book|last = Ashmead |first = H. DeWayne |date = 1989 |title = ''Conversations on Chelation and Mineral Nutrition'' |publisher = Keats Publishing |isbn = 0-87983-501-X}}</ref> | |||
====Dietary recommendations==== | |||
The U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM) updated Estimated Average Requirements (EARs) and Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for iron in 2001.<ref name="lpi" /> The current EAR for iron for women ages 14{{nbnd}}18 is 7.9 mg/day, 8.1 mg/day for ages 19{{nbnd}}50 and 5.0 mg/day thereafter (postmenopause). For men, the EAR is 6.0 mg/day for ages 19 and up. The RDA is 15.0 mg/day for women ages 15{{nbnd}}18, 18.0 mg/day for ages 19{{nbnd}}50 and 8.0 mg/day thereafter. For men, 8.0 mg/day for ages 19 and up. RDAs are higher than EARs so as to identify amounts that will cover people with higher-than-average requirements. RDA for pregnancy is 27 mg/day and, for lactation, 9 mg/day.<ref name="lpi" /> For children ages 1{{nbnd}}3 years 7 mg/day, 10 mg/day for ages 4–8 and 8 mg/day for ages 9{{nbnd}}13. As for safety, the IOM also sets ]s (ULs) for vitamins and minerals when evidence is sufficient. In the case of iron, the UL is set at 45 mg/day. Collectively the EARs, RDAs and ULs are referred to as ]s.<ref>{{cite book|chapter= Iron|chapter-url= https://www.nal.usda.gov/sites/default/files/fnic_uploads//290-393_150.pdf|title= Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Arsenic, Boron, Chromium, Copper, Iodine, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Nickel, Silicon, Vanadium, and Iron|publisher= National Academy Press|year= 2001|pages= 290–393|pmid= 25057538|isbn= 0-309-07279-4|author1= Institute of Medicine (US) Panel on Micronutrients|access-date= 9 March 2017|archive-date= 9 September 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170909191057/https://www.nal.usda.gov/sites/default/files/fnic_uploads//290-393_150.pdf|url-status= dead}}</ref> | |||
The ] (EFSA) refers to the collective set of information as Dietary Reference Values, with Population Reference Intake (PRI) instead of RDA, and Average Requirement instead of EAR. AI and UL are defined the same as in the ]. For women the PRI is 13 mg/day ages 15{{nbnd}}17 years, 16 mg/day for women ages 18 and up who are premenopausal and 11 mg/day postmenopausal. For pregnancy and lactation, 16 mg/day. For men the PRI is 11 mg/day ages 15 and older. For children ages 1 to 14, the PRI increases from 7 to 11 mg/day. The PRIs are higher than the U.S. RDAs, with the exception of pregnancy.<ref>{{cite web | title = Overview on Dietary Reference Values for the EU population as derived by the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies| year = 2017| url = https://www.efsa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/assets/DRV_Summary_tables_jan_17.pdf|work=European Food Safety Authority}}</ref> The EFSA reviewed the same safety question did not establish a UL.<ref>{{cite web| title = Tolerable Upper Intake Levels For Vitamins And Minerals| publisher = European Food Safety Authority| year = 2006| url = https://www.efsa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/efsa_rep/blobserver_assets/ndatolerableuil.pdf}}</ref> | |||
Infants may require iron supplements if they are bottle-fed cow's milk.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://bodyandhealth.canada.com/condition_info_details.asp?disease_id=274 |title=Iron Deficiency Anemia |publisher=MediResource |access-date=17 December 2008 |archive-date=16 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216132821/http://bodyandhealth.canada.com/condition_info_details.asp?disease_id=274 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Frequent ] are at risk of low iron levels and are often advised to supplement their iron intake.<ref>{{Cite journal| doi= 10.1016/0925-5710(95)00426-2|pmid= 8867722|date= 1996|last1= Milman|first1=N.|title= Serum ferritin in Danes: studies of iron status from infancy to old age, during blood donation and pregnancy|volume= 63|issue= 2|pages= 103–35|journal= ]|doi-access= free}}</ref> | |||
For U.S. food and dietary supplement labeling purposes, the amount in a serving is expressed as a percent of Daily Value (%DV). For iron labeling purposes, 100% of the Daily Value was 18 mg, and {{as of|2016|May|27|lc=y|df=US}} remained unchanged at 18 mg.<ref name="FedReg">{{Cite web|url=https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-05-27/pdf/2016-11867.pdf|title=Federal Register May 27, 2016 Food Labeling: Revision of the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels. FR page 33982.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Daily Value Reference of the Dietary Supplement Label Database (DSLD) | website=Dietary Supplement Label Database (DSLD) | url=https://www.dsld.nlm.nih.gov/dsld/dailyvalue.jsp | access-date=16 May 2020 | archive-date=7 April 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407073956/https://dsld.nlm.nih.gov/dsld/dailyvalue.jsp | url-status=dead }}</ref> A table of the old and new adult daily values is provided at ]. | |||
===Deficiency=== | |||
{{Main|Iron deficiency}} | |||
Iron deficiency is the most common ] in the world.<ref name="lpi" /><ref>{{cite journal |author=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |title=Iron deficiency – United States, 1999–2000 |journal=MMWR |date=2002 |volume=51 |issue=40 |pages=897–99 |url=https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5140a1.htm|pmid=12418542}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=Robert C. |last1=Hider |first2=Xiaole|last2=Kong |editor=Astrid Sigel, Helmut Sigel and Roland K.O. Sigel |title=Interrelations between Essential Metal Ions and Human Diseases|series=Metal Ions in Life Sciences|volume=13 |year=2013|publisher=Springer|pages=229–94 |chapter=Chapter 8. Iron: Effect of Overload and Deficiency|doi=10.1007/978-94-007-7500-8_8|pmid=24470094|isbn=978-94-007-7499-5 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Dlouhy |first1=Adrienne C. |last2=Outten |first2=Caryn E. |chapter=The Iron Metallome in Eukaryotic Organisms |editor1-first=Lucia|editor1-last=Banci |series=Metal Ions in Life Sciences |volume=12 |title=Metallomics and the Cell |year=2013 |pages=241–78 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-94-007-5560-4 |doi=10.1007/978-94-007-5561-1_8|pmid=23595675 |pmc=3924584 }} electronic-book {{ISBN|978-94-007-5561-1}}</ref> When loss of iron is not adequately compensated by adequate dietary iron intake, a state of ] occurs, which over time leads to ] if left untreated, which is characterised by an insufficient number of red blood cells and an insufficient amount of hemoglobin.<ref>{{cite journal |author=CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |title=Recommendations to Prevent and Control Iron Deficiency in the United States |journal=Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report |date=3 April 1998 |volume=47 |issue=RR3 |page=1 |url=https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00051880.htm |access-date=12 August 2014}}</ref> Children, ] women (women of child-bearing age), and people with poor diet are most susceptible to the disease. Most cases of iron-deficiency anemia are mild, but if not treated can cause problems like fast or irregular heartbeat, complications during pregnancy, and delayed growth in infants and children.<ref>{{cite web|author=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|title=Iron and Iron Deficiency |url=https://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/basics/vitamins/iron.html|access-date=12 August 2014}}</ref> | |||
The brain is resistant to acute iron deficiency due to the slow transport of iron through the blood brain barrier.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Youdim |first1=M. B. |last2=Ben-Shachar |first2=D. |last3=Yehuda |first3=S. |date=September 1989 |title=Putative biological mechanisms of the effect of iron deficiency on brain biochemistry and behavior |journal=The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition |volume=50 |issue=3 Suppl |pages=607–615; discussion 615–617 |doi=10.1093/ajcn/50.3.607 |issn=0002-9165 |pmid=2773840|doi-access=free }}</ref> Acute fluctuations in iron status (marked by serum ferritin levels) do not reflect brain iron status, but prolonged nutritional iron deficiency is suspected to reduce brain iron concentrations over time.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Erikson |first1=K. M. |last2=Pinero |first2=D. J. |last3=Connor |first3=J. R. |last4=Beard |first4=J. L. |date=October 1997 |title=Regional brain iron, ferritin and transferrin concentrations during iron deficiency and iron repletion in developing rats |journal=The Journal of Nutrition |volume=127 |issue=10 |pages=2030–2038 |doi=10.1093/jn/127.10.2030 |issn=0022-3166 |pmid=9311961|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Unger |first1=Erica L. |last2=Bianco |first2=Laura E. |last3=Jones |first3=Byron C. |last4=Allen |first4=Richard P. |last5=Earley |first5=Christopher J. |date=November 2014 |title=Low brain iron effects and reversibility on striatal dopamine dynamics |journal=Experimental Neurology |language=en |volume=261 |pages=462–468 |doi=10.1016/j.expneurol.2014.06.023 |pmc=4318655 |pmid=24999026}}</ref> In the brain, iron plays a role in oxygen transport, myelin synthesis, mitochondrial respiration, and as a cofactor for neurotransmitter synthesis and metabolism.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ward |first1=Roberta J. |last2=Zucca |first2=Fabio A. |last3=Duyn |first3=Jeff H. |last4=Crichton |first4=Robert R. |last5=Zecca |first5=Luigi |date=October 2014 |title=The role of iron in brain ageing and neurodegenerative disorders |journal=The Lancet. Neurology |volume=13 |issue=10 |pages=1045–1060 |doi=10.1016/S1474-4422(14)70117-6 |issn=1474-4465 |pmc=5672917 |pmid=25231526}}</ref> Animal models of nutritional iron deficiency report biomolecular changes resembling those seen in Parkinson's and Huntington's disease.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pino |first1=Jessica M. V. |last2=da Luz |first2=Marcio H. M. |last3=Antunes |first3=Hanna K. M. |last4=Giampá |first4=Sara Q. de Campos |last5=Martins |first5=Vilma R. |last6=Lee |first6=Kil S. |date=2017-05-17 |title=Iron-Restricted Diet Affects Brain Ferritin Levels, Dopamine Metabolism and Cellular Prion Protein in a Region-Specific Manner |journal=Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience |volume=10 |pages=145 |doi=10.3389/fnmol.2017.00145 |issn=1662-5099 |pmc=5434142 |pmid=28567002 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Beard |first1=John |last2=Erikson |first2=Keith M. |last3=Jones |first3=Byron C. |date=2003-04-01 |title=Neonatal Iron Deficiency Results in Irreversible Changes in Dopamine Function in Rats |journal=The Journal of Nutrition |language=en |volume=133 |issue=4 |pages=1174–1179 |doi=10.1093/jn/133.4.1174 |pmid=12672939 |issn=0022-3166|doi-access=free }}</ref> However, age-related accumulation of iron in the brain has also been linked to the development of Parkinson's.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Dominic J. Hare |author2=Kay L. Double |title=Iron and dopamine: a toxic couple |journal=Brain |volume=139 |issue=4 |date=April 2016 |pages=1026–1035 |doi=10.1093/brain/aww022|pmid=26962053 |doi-access=free }}</ref> | |||
===Excess=== | |||
{{Main|Iron overload}} | |||
] is tightly regulated by the human body, which has no regulated physiological means of excreting iron. Only small amounts of iron are lost daily due to mucosal and skin epithelial cell sloughing, so control of iron levels is primarily accomplished by regulating uptake.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Ramzi S. Cotran|author2=Vinay Kumar|author3=Tucker Collins|author4=Stanley Leonard Robbins|title=Robbins pathologic basis of disease|url={{Google books|kdhrAAAAMAAJ|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|access-date= 27 June 2012|date=1999|publisher=Saunders|isbn=978-0-7216-7335-6}}</ref> Regulation of iron uptake is impaired in some people as a result of a ] that maps to the HLA-H gene region on ] and leads to abnormally low levels of ], a key regulator of the entry of iron into the circulatory system in mammals.<ref name="pmid12663437">{{cite journal|author=Ganz T|title=Hepcidin, a key regulator of iron metabolism and mediator of anemia of inflammation|journal=Blood|volume=102|issue=3|pages=783–8|date=August 2003|pmid=12663437|doi=10.1182/blood-2003-03-0672|s2cid=28909635|doi-access=free}}</ref> In these people, excessive iron intake can result in ]s, known medically as ].<ref name="lpi" /> Many people have an undiagnosed genetic susceptibility to iron overload, and are not aware of a family history of the problem. For this reason, people should not take iron supplements unless they suffer from ] and have consulted a doctor. Hemochromatosis is estimated to be the cause of 0.3–0.8% of all metabolic diseases of Caucasians.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Hereditary hemochromatosis|journal=Rev Méd Interne|date=2000 |volume=21 |issue=11 |pages=961–71 |doi=10.1016/S0248-8663(00)00252-6 |pmid=11109593|last1=Durupt|first1=S.|last2=Durieu|first2=I.|last3=Nové-Josserand|first3=R.|last4=Bencharif|first4=L.|last5=Rousset|first5=H.|last6=Vital Durand|first6=D.}}</ref> <!--f] studies show that iron accumulates in the ] of the brains of those with ] and in the ] of those with ].<ref>{{Cite journal| url = https://archneur.highwire.org/cgi/content/abstract/66/3/371 |pmid= 19273756|doi = 10.1001/archneurol.2008.586|date = 2009|last1 = Brar|first1 = S.|last2 = Henderson|first2 = D.|last3 = Schenck|first3 = J.|last4 = Zimmerman|first4 = E.A.|title = Iron accumulation in the substantia nigra of patients with Alzheimer disease and parkinsonism|volume = 66|issue = 3|pages = 371–74|journal = Archives of Neurology}}</ref>--> | |||
Overdoses of ingested iron can cause excessive levels of free iron in the blood. High blood levels of free ferrous iron react with ]s to produce highly reactive ]s that can damage ], ], ], and other cellular components. Iron toxicity occurs when the cell contains free iron, which generally occurs when iron levels exceed the availability of ] to bind the iron. Damage to the cells of the ] can also prevent them from regulating iron absorption, leading to further increases in blood levels. Iron typically damages cells in the ], ] and elsewhere, causing adverse effects that include ], ], ], ], ], long-term organ damage, and even death.<ref name="Cheney" /> Humans experience iron toxicity when the iron exceeds 20 milligrams for every kilogram of body mass; 60 milligrams per kilogram is considered a ].<ref name="emed-topic285">{{cite web|url=https://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic285.htm|title=Toxicity, Iron | |||
| publisher = Medscape|access-date=23 May 2010}}</ref> Overconsumption of iron, often the result of children eating large quantities of ] tablets intended for adult consumption, is one of the most common toxicological causes of death in children under six.<ref name="emed-topic285" /> The ] (DRI) sets the Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) for adults at 45 mg/day. For children under fourteen years old the UL is 40 mg/day.<ref name="IOM">{{citation|title=Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs): Recommended Intakes for Individuals |publisher=Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine, National Academies |year=2004 |url=https://www.iom.edu/Global/News%20Announcements/~/media/Files/Activity%20Files/Nutrition/DRIs/DRI_Summary_Listing.pdf |access-date=2009-06-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130314000722/https://www.iom.edu/Global/News%20Announcements/~/media/Files/Activity%20Files/Nutrition/DRIs/DRI_Summary_Listing.pdf |archive-date=14 March 2013 }}</ref> | |||
The medical management of iron toxicity is complicated, and can include use of a specific ] agent called ] to bind and expel excess iron from the body.<ref name="Cheney">{{Cite journal| last1 =Cheney|first1 =K.| last2 =Gumbiner|first2 =C.| last3 = Benson|first3 =B.| last4 = Tenenbein|first4 =M.|title=Survival after a severe iron poisoning treated with intermittent infusions of deferoxamine |journal=J Toxicol Clin Toxicol |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=61–66 |date=1995 |pmid=7837315 |doi=10.3109/15563659509020217}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| last = Tenenbein|first = M.|title=Benefits of parenteral deferoxamine for acute iron poisoning |journal=J Toxicol Clin Toxicol |volume=34 |issue=5 |pages=485–89 |date=1996 |pmid=8800185 |doi=10.3109/15563659609028005}}</ref><ref name="pmid21102602">{{cite journal |vauthors=Wu H, Wu T, Xu X, Wang J, Wang J | title = Iron toxicity in mice with collagenase-induced intracerebral hemorrhage | journal = J Cereb Blood Flow Metab | volume = 31 | issue = 5 | pages = 1243–50 |date=May 2011 | pmid = 21102602 | doi =10.1038/jcbfm.2010.209 | pmc=3099628}}</ref> | |||
===ADHD=== | |||
Some research has suggested that low ] iron levels may play a role in the pathophysiology of ].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Robberecht |first1=Harry |display-authors=etal |title=Magnesium, Iron, Zinc, Copper and Selenium Status in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) |journal=Molecules |year=2020 |volume=25 |issue=19 |page=4440 |doi=10.3390/molecules25194440 |pmid=32992575 |pmc=7583976|doi-access=free }}</ref> Some researchers have found that iron supplementation can be effective especially in the ] of the disorder.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Soto-Insuga |first1=V |display-authors=etal |title= |journal=An Pediatr (Barc) |date=2013 |volume=79 |issue=4 |pages=230–235 |doi=10.1016/j.anpedi.2013.02.008 |pmid=23582950}}</ref> | |||
Some researchers in the 2000s suggested a link between low levels of iron in the blood and ADHD. A 2012 study found no such correlation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Donfrancesco |first1=Renato |last2=Parisi |first2=Pasquale |last3=Vanacore |first3=Nicola |last4=Martines |first4=Francesca |last5=Sargentini |first5=Vittorio |last6=Cortese |first6=Samuele |date=May 2013 |title=Iron and ADHD: Time to Move Beyond Serum Ferritin Levels |journal=Journal of Attention Disorders |language=en |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=347–357 |doi=10.1177/1087054711430712 |pmid=22290693 |s2cid=22445593 |issn=1087-0547}}</ref> | |||
===Cancer=== | |||
The role of iron in cancer defense can be described as a "double-edged sword" because of its pervasive presence in non-pathological processes.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Thévenod|first1=Frank | |||
|editor1-last=Sigel|editor1-first=Astrid|editor2-last=Sigel|editor2-first=Helmut|editor3-last=Freisinger|editor3-first=Eva|editor4-last=Sigel|editor4-first=Roland K. O. | |||
|title=Metallo-Drugs: Development and Action of Anticancer Agents | |||
|date=2018 | |||
|doi= 10.1515/9783110470734-021 | |||
|pmid=29394034 | |||
|publisher=de Gruyter GmbH | |||
|location=Berlin | |||
|chapter= Chapter 15. Iron and Its Role in Cancer Defense: A Double-Edged Sword | |||
|series=Metal Ions in Life Sciences 18 | |||
|volume=18 | |||
|pages= 437–67}} | |||
</ref> People having ] may develop iron deficiency and ], for which ] is used to restore iron levels.<ref name="beguin">{{cite journal|pmid=24275533|year=2014|last1=Beguin|first1=Y|title=Epidemiological and nonclinical studies investigating effects of iron in carcinogenesis--a critical review|journal=Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology|volume=89|issue=1|pages=1–15|last2=Aapro|first2=M|last3=Ludwig|first3=H|last4=Mizzen|first4=L|last5=Osterborg|first5=A|doi=10.1016/j.critrevonc.2013.10.008|doi-access=free}}</ref> Iron overload, which may occur from high consumption of red meat,<ref name="lpi" /> may initiate ] growth and increase susceptibility to cancer onset,<ref name="beguin" /> particularly for ].<ref name="lpi" /> | |||
<!--===Bioremediation=== | |||
Iron-eating bacteria live in the hulls of ]s such as the '']''.<ref>{{cite book | |||
| last = Ward | |||
| first = Greg | |||
| title = The Rough Guide to the ''Titanic'' | |||
| date = 2012 | |||
| publisher = Rough Guides Ltd | |||
| location = London | |||
| page=171 | |||
| isbn = 978-1-4053-8699-9 | |||
}}</ref> The acidophile bacteria '']'', '']'', '']'' spp., '']'' and '']'' can oxidize ferrous iron enzymically.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://mic.sgmjournals.org/content/156/3/609.full|title=Metals, minerals and microbes: geomicrobiology and bioremediation|journal=Microbiology|last=Gadd |first= Geoffrey Michael |volume=156|date=March 2010|pages=609–43|doi=10.1099/mic.0.037143-0|pmid=20019082|issue=3}}</ref> A sample of the fungus '']'' was found growing from gold mining solution, and was found to contain cyano metal complexes such as gold, silver, copper iron and zinc. The fungus also plays a role in the solubilization of heavy metal sulfides.<ref>{{cite book|url={{Google books|WY3YvfNoouMC|page=PA533|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|title=Mycoremediation: Fungal Bioremediation|last=Singh |first= Harbhajan |page=509}}</ref>--> | |||
===Marine systems=== | |||
Iron plays an essential role in marine systems and can act as a limiting nutrient for planktonic activity.<ref>Morel, F.M.M., Hudson, R.J.M., & Price, N.M. (1991). Limitation of productivity by trace metals in the sea. Limnology and Oceanography, 36(8), 1742-1755. {{doi|10.4319/lo.1991.36.8.1742}}</ref> Because of this, too much of a decrease in iron may lead to a decrease in growth rates in phytoplanktonic organisms such as diatoms.<ref>Brezezinski, M.A., Baines, S.B., Balch, W.M., Beucher, C.P., Chai, F., Dugdale, R.C., Krause, J.W., Landry, M.R., Marchi, A., Measures, C.I., Nelson, D.M., Parker, A.E., Poulton, A.J., Selph, K.E., Strutton, P.G., Taylor, A.G., & Twining, B.S.(2011). Co-limitation of diatoms by iron and silicic acid in the equatorial Pacific. Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 58(3-4), 493-511. {{doi|10.1016/j.dsr2.2010.08.005}}</ref> Iron can also be oxidized by marine microbes under conditions that are high in iron and low in oxygen.<ref>Field, E. K., Kato, S., Findlay, A. J., MacDonald, D. J., Chiu, B. K., Luther, G. W., & Chan, C. S. (2016). Planktonic marine iron oxidizers drive iron mineralization under low-oxygen conditions. Geobiology, 14(5), 499-508. {{doi|10.1111/gbi.12189}}</ref> | |||
Iron can enter marine systems through adjoining rivers and directly from the atmosphere. Once iron enters the ocean, it can be distributed throughout the water column through ocean mixing and through recycling on the cellular level.<ref>Wells, M.L., Price, N.M., & Bruland, K.W. (1995). Iron chemistry in seawater and its relationship to phytoplankton: a workshop report. Marine Chemistry, 48(2), 157-182. {{doi|10.1016/0304-4203(94)00055-I}}</ref> In the arctic, sea ice plays a major role in the store and distribution of iron in the ocean, depleting oceanic iron as it freezes in the winter and releasing it back into the water when thawing occurs in the summer.<ref>Lannuzel, D., Vancoppenolle, M., van der Merwe, P., de Jong, J., Meiners, K.M., Grotti, M., Nishioska, J., & Schoemann. (2016). Iron in sea ice: Review and new insights. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 4 000130. | |||
{{doi|10.12952/journal.elementa.000130}}</ref> The iron cycle can fluctuate the forms of iron from aqueous to particle forms altering the availability of iron to primary producers.<ref>Raiswell, R. 2011. Iron Transport from the Continents to the Open Ocean: The Aging–Rejuvenation Cycle. Elements, 7(2), 101–106. {{doi|10.2113/gselements.7.2.101}}</ref> Increased light and warmth increases the amount of iron that is in forms that are usable by primary producers.<ref>Tagliabue, A., Bopp, L., Aumont, O., & Arrigo, K.R. (2009). Influence of light and temperature on the marine iron cycle: From theoretical to global modeling. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 23. | |||
{{doi|10.1029/2008GB003214}}</ref> | |||
==See also== | |||
{{Portal|Chemistry}} | |||
<!-- Please keep this list tidy and in alphabetical order. Avoid links prominently featured in article. --> | <!-- Please keep this list tidy and in alphabetical order. Avoid links prominently featured in article. --> | ||
* Economically important iron deposits include: | |||
** ] in the state of Pará, ], is thought to be the largest iron deposit in the world. | |||
** ] in Bolivia, where 10% of the world's accessible iron ore is located. | |||
** ] is the largest iron ore deposit in ]. | |||
** ] in Sweden, where one of the world's largest deposits of iron ore is located | |||
** The ] is the chief iron ore mining district in the United States. | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] – proposed fertilization of oceans to stimulate ] growth | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] – process of creation of iron ore pellets | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
==References== | |||
{{wiktionarypar|iron}} | |||
{{ |
{{reflist}} | ||
* ] in ], where 70% of the world's iron and ] is located | |||
==Bibliography== | |||
* ] | |||
{{div col | colwidth = 30em | small = yes}} | |||
* ] | |||
* {{Greenwood&Earnshaw2nd}} | |||
* ] - Fertilization of oceans to stimulate ] growth | |||
* <!-- We -->{{Cite book | |||
* ] - Process of creation of iron ore pellets | |||
| author-last = Weeks | |||
* ] (Iron) in the ] | |||
| author-first = Mary Elvira | |||
| author-link = Mary Elvira Weeks | |||
| author-last2 = Leichester | |||
| author-first2 = Henry M. | |||
| date = 1968 | |||
| title = Discovery of the elements | |||
| url = https://archive.org/details/discoveryofeleme07edunse | |||
| url-access = registration | |||
| publisher = Journal of Chemical Education | |||
| location = Easton, PA | |||
| chapter = Elements known to the ancients | |||
| pages = –40 | |||
| lccn = 68-15217 | |||
| ref = CITEREFWeeks1968 | |||
| isbn = 0-7661-3872-0 | |||
}} | |||
{{div col end}} | |||
==Further reading== | |||
{{div col | colwidth = 30em | small = yes}} | |||
* H.R. Schubert, ''History of the British Iron and Steel Industry ... to 1775 AD'' (Routledge, London, 1957) | |||
* R.F. Tylecote, ''History of Metallurgy'' (Institute of Materials, London 1992). | |||
* R.F. Tylecote, "Iron in the Industrial Revolution" in J. Day and R.F. Tylecote, ''The Industrial Revolution in Metals'' (Institute of Materials 1991), 200–60. | |||
{{div col end}} | |||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
{{Wikiquote}} | |||
* | |||
{{Wiktionary|iron}} | |||
* | |||
{{Commons|Iron}} | |||
* | |||
{{NIE Poster|Iron}} | |||
* | |||
* at '']'' (University of Nottingham) | |||
* | |||
* by J. B. Calvert | |||
{{Periodic table (navbox)}} | |||
{{Iron compounds}} | |||
{{Authority control}} | |||
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Latest revision as of 04:42, 19 December 2024
This article is about the metallic element. For other uses, see Iron (disambiguation).Chemical element with atomic number 26 (Fe)
Iron is a chemical element; it has the symbol Fe (from Latin ferrum 'iron') 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, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most abundant element in the Earth's crust, being mainly deposited by meteorites in its metallic state.
Extracting usable metal from iron ores requires kilns or furnaces capable of reaching 1,500 °C (2,730 °F), about 500 °C (932 °F) higher than that required to smelt copper. Humans started to master that process in Eurasia during the 2nd millennium BC and the use of iron tools and weapons began to displace copper alloys – in some regions, only around 1200 BC. 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, due to their mechanical properties and low cost. The iron and steel industry is thus very important economically, and iron is the cheapest metal, with a price of a few dollars per kilogram or pound.
Pristine and smooth pure iron surfaces are a mirror-like silvery-gray. Iron reacts readily with oxygen and water to produce 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 more fresh surfaces for corrosion. 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, −4 to +7. Iron also forms many coordination complexs; some of them, such as ferrocene, ferrioxalate, and Prussian blue have substantial industrial, medical, or research applications.
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 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.
Characteristics
Allotropes
Main article: Allotropes of ironAt least four allotropes of iron (differing atom arrangements in the solid) are known, conventionally denoted α, γ, δ, and ε.
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.
The physical properties of iron at very high pressures and temperatures have also been studied extensively, 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. (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.)
The Earth's inner core is generally presumed to consist of an iron-nickel alloy with ε (or β) structure.
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; 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.
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.
Magnetic properties
Below its Curie point of 770 °C (1,420 °F; 1,040 K), 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. This happens because the orbitals of those two electrons (dz and dx − y) do not point toward neighboring atoms in the lattice, and therefore are not involved in metallic bonding.
In the absence of an external source of magnetic field, the atoms get spontaneously partitioned into magnetic domains, about 10 micrometers across, 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 need to channel magnetic fields to fulfill design function, 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.
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 Fe3O4 (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 ironIron has four stable isotopes: Fe (5.845% of natural iron), Fe (91.754%), Fe (2.119%) and Fe (0.282%). Twenty-four artificial isotopes have also been created. Of these stable isotopes, only Fe has a nuclear spin (−1⁄2). The nuclide Fe theoretically can undergo double electron capture to Cr, but the process has never been observed and only a lower limit on the half-life of 4.4×10 years has been established.
Fe is an extinct radionuclide of long half-life (2.6 million years). It is not found on Earth, but its ultimate decay product is its granddaughter, the stable nuclide Ni. Much of the past work on isotopic composition of iron has focused on the nucleosynthesis of Fe 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.
In phases of the meteorites Semarkona and Chervony Kut, a correlation between the concentration of Ni, the granddaughter of Fe, and the abundance of the stable iron isotopes provided evidence for the existence of Fe at the time of formation of the Solar System. Possibly the energy released by the decay of Fe, along with that released by Al, contributed to the remelting and differentiation of asteroids after their formation 4.6 billion years ago. The abundance of Ni present in extraterrestrial material may bring further insight into the origin and early history of the Solar System.
The most abundant iron isotope Fe is of particular interest to nuclear scientists because it represents the most common endpoint of nucleosynthesis. Since Ni (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. Although adding more alpha particles is possible, but nonetheless the sequence does effectively end at Ni because conditions in stellar interiors cause the competition between photodisintegration and the alpha process to favor photodisintegration around Ni. This Ni, 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 Co, and then to stable Fe. 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. It is also very common in the universe, relative to other stable metals of approximately the same atomic weight. Iron is the sixth most abundant element in the universe, and the most common refractory element.
Although a further tiny energy gain could be extracted by synthesizing Ni, which has a marginally higher binding energy than Fe, conditions in stars are unsuitable for this process. Element production in supernovas greatly favor iron over nickel, and in any case, Fe still has a lower mass per nucleon than Ni due to its higher fraction of lighter protons. Hence, elements heavier than iron require a supernova for their formation, involving rapid neutron capture by starting Fe nuclei.
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 Fe 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.
Origin and occurrence in nature
Cosmogenesis
Iron's abundance in rocky planets like Earth is due to its abundant production during the runaway fusion and explosion of type Ia supernovae, which scatters the iron into space.
Metallic iron
Metallic or native iron is rarely found on the surface of the Earth because it tends to oxidize. However, both the Earth's inner and outer core, which together account for 35% of the mass of the whole Earth, are believed to consist largely of an iron alloy, possibly with nickel. Electric currents in the liquid outer core are believed to be the origin of the Earth's magnetic field. The other terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, and Mars) as well as the Moon are believed to have a metallic core consisting mostly of iron. The M-type asteroids are also believed to be partly or mostly made of metallic iron alloy.
The rare iron meteorites are the main form of natural metallic iron on the Earth's surface. Items made of cold-worked meteoritic iron have been found in various archaeological sites dating from a time when iron smelting had not yet been developed; and the Inuit in Greenland have been reported to use iron from the Cape York meteorite for tools and hunting weapons. About 1 in 20 meteorites consist of the unique iron-nickel minerals taenite (35–80% iron) and kamacite (90–95% iron). Native iron is also rarely found in basalts that have formed from magmas that have come into contact with carbon-rich sedimentary rocks, which have reduced the oxygen fugacity sufficiently for iron to crystallize. This is known as telluric iron and is described from a few localities, such as Disko Island in West Greenland, Yakutia in Russia and Bühl in Germany.
Mantle minerals
Ferropericlase (Mg,Fe)O, a solid solution of periclase (MgO) and wüstite (FeO), makes up about 20% of the volume of the lower mantle of the Earth, which makes it the second most abundant mineral phase in that region after silicate perovskite (Mg,Fe)SiO3; it also is the major host for iron in the lower mantle. At the bottom of the transition zone of the mantle, the reaction γ-(Mg,Fe)2[SiO4] ↔ (Mg,Fe)[SiO3] + (Mg,Fe)O transforms γ-olivine into a mixture of silicate perovskite and ferropericlase and vice versa. In the literature, this mineral phase of the lower mantle is also often called magnesiowüstite. Silicate perovskite may form up to 93% of the lower mantle, and the magnesium iron form, (Mg,Fe)SiO3, is considered to be the most abundant mineral in the Earth, making up 38% of its volume.
Earth's crust
While iron is the most abundant element on Earth, most of this iron is concentrated in the inner and outer cores. The fraction of iron that is in Earth's crust only amounts to about 5% of the overall mass of the crust and is thus only the fourth most abundant element in that layer (after oxygen, silicon, and aluminium).
Most of the iron in the crust is combined with various other elements to form many iron minerals. An important class is the iron oxide minerals such as hematite (Fe2O3), magnetite (Fe3O4), and siderite (FeCO3), which are the major ores of iron. Many igneous rocks also contain the sulfide minerals pyrrhotite and pentlandite. During weathering, iron tends to leach from sulfide deposits as the sulfate and from silicate deposits as the bicarbonate. Both of these are oxidized in aqueous solution and precipitate in even mildly elevated pH as iron(III) oxide.
Large deposits of iron are banded iron formations, a type of rock consisting of repeated thin layers of iron oxides alternating with bands of iron-poor shale and chert. The banded iron formations were laid down in the time between 3,700 million years ago and 1,800 million years ago.
Materials containing finely ground iron(III) oxides or oxide-hydroxides, such as ochre, have been used as yellow, red, and brown pigments since pre-historical times. They contribute as well to the color of various rocks and clays, including entire geological formations like the Painted Hills in Oregon and the Buntsandstein ("colored sandstone", British Bunter). Through Eisensandstein (a jurassic 'iron sandstone', e.g. from Donzdorf in Germany) and Bath stone in the UK, iron compounds are responsible for the yellowish color of many historical buildings and sculptures. The proverbial red color of the surface of Mars is derived from an iron oxide-rich regolith.
Significant amounts of iron occur in the iron sulfide mineral pyrite (FeS2), but it is difficult to extract iron from it and it is therefore not exploited. In fact, iron is so common that production generally focuses only on ores with very high quantities of it.
According to the International Resource Panel's Metal Stocks in Society report, the global stock of iron in use in society is 2,200 kg per capita. More-developed countries differ in this respect from less-developed countries (7,000–14,000 vs 2,000 kg per capita).
Oceans
Ocean science demonstrated the role of the iron in the ancient seas in both marine biota and climate.
Chemistry and compounds
Main article: Iron compoundsOxidation state |
Representative compound |
---|---|
−2 (d) | Disodium tetracarbonylferrate (Collman's reagent) |
−1 (d) | Fe 2(CO) 8 |
0 (d) | Iron pentacarbonyl |
1 (d) | Cyclopentadienyliron dicarbonyl dimer ("Fp2") |
2 (d) | Ferrous sulfate, Ferrocene |
3 (d) | Ferric chloride, Ferrocenium tetrafluoroborate |
4 (d) | Fe(diars) 2Cl 2, FeO(BF4)2 |
5 (d) | FeO 4 |
6 (d) | Potassium ferrate |
7 (d) | (matrix isolation, 4K) |
Iron shows the characteristic chemical properties of the transition metals, namely the ability to form variable oxidation states differing by steps of one and a very large coordination and organometallic chemistry: indeed, it was the discovery of an iron compound, ferrocene, that revolutionalized the latter field in the 1950s. Iron is sometimes considered as a prototype for the entire block of transition metals, due to its abundance and the immense role it has played in the technological progress of humanity. Its 26 electrons are arranged in the configuration 3d4s, of which the 3d and 4s electrons are relatively close in energy, and thus a number of electrons can be ionized.
Iron forms compounds mainly in the oxidation states +2 (iron(II), "ferrous") and +3 (iron(III), "ferric"). Iron also occurs in higher oxidation states, e.g., the purple potassium ferrate (K2FeO4), which contains iron in its +6 oxidation state. The anion with iron in its +7 oxidation state, along with an iron(V)-peroxo isomer, has been detected by infrared spectroscopy at 4 K after cocondensation of laser-ablated Fe atoms with a mixture of O2/Ar. Iron(IV) is a common intermediate in many biochemical oxidation reactions. Numerous organoiron compounds contain formal oxidation states of +1, 0, −1, or even −2. The oxidation states and other bonding properties are often assessed using the technique of Mössbauer spectroscopy. Many mixed valence compounds contain both iron(II) and iron(III) centers, such as magnetite and Prussian blue (Fe4(Fe[CN]6)3). The latter is used as the traditional "blue" in blueprints.
Iron is the first of the transition metals that cannot reach its group oxidation state of +8, although its heavier congeners ruthenium and osmium can, with ruthenium having more difficulty than osmium. Ruthenium exhibits an aqueous cationic chemistry in its low oxidation states similar to that of iron, but osmium does not, favoring high oxidation states in which it forms anionic complexes. In the second half of the 3d transition series, vertical similarities down the groups compete with the horizontal similarities of iron with its neighbors cobalt and nickel in the periodic table, which are also ferromagnetic at room temperature and share similar chemistry. As such, iron, cobalt, and nickel are sometimes grouped together as the iron triad.
Unlike many other metals, iron does not form amalgams with mercury. As a result, mercury is traded in standardized 76 pound flasks (34 kg) made of iron.
Iron is by far the most reactive element in its group; it is pyrophoric when finely divided and dissolves easily in dilute acids, giving Fe. However, it does not react with concentrated nitric acid and other oxidizing acids due to the formation of an impervious oxide layer, which can nevertheless react with hydrochloric acid. High-purity iron, called electrolytic iron, is considered to be resistant to rust, due to its oxide layer.
Binary compounds
Oxides and sulfides
Ferrous or iron(II) oxide, FeOFerric or iron(III) oxide Fe2O3Ferrosoferric or iron(II,III) oxide Fe3O4Iron forms various oxide and hydroxide compounds; the most common are iron(II,III) oxide (Fe3O4), and iron(III) oxide (Fe2O3). Iron(II) oxide also exists, though it is unstable at room temperature. Despite their names, they are actually all non-stoichiometric compounds whose compositions may vary. These oxides are the principal ores for the production of iron (see bloomery and blast furnace). They are also used in the production of ferrites, useful magnetic storage media in computers, and pigments. The best known sulfide is iron pyrite (FeS2), also known as fool's gold owing to its golden luster. It is not an iron(IV) compound, but is actually an iron(II) polysulfide containing Fe and S
2 ions in a distorted sodium chloride structure.
Halides
The binary ferrous and ferric halides are well-known. The ferrous halides typically arise from treating iron metal with the corresponding hydrohalic acid to give the corresponding hydrated salts.
- Fe + 2 HX → FeX2 + H2 (X = F, Cl, Br, I)
Iron reacts with fluorine, chlorine, and bromine to give the corresponding ferric halides, ferric chloride being the most common.
- 2 Fe + 3 X2 → 2 FeX3 (X = F, Cl, Br)
Ferric iodide is an exception, being thermodynamically unstable due to the oxidizing power of Fe and the high reducing power of I:
- 2 I + 2 Fe → I2 + 2 Fe (E = +0.23 V)
Ferric iodide, a black solid, is not stable in ordinary conditions, but can be prepared through the reaction of iron pentacarbonyl with iodine and carbon monoxide in the presence of hexane and light at the temperature of −20 °C, with oxygen and water excluded. Complexes of ferric iodide with some soft bases are known to be stable compounds.
Solution chemistry
The standard reduction potentials in acidic aqueous solution for some common iron ions are given below:
+ 2 e ⇌ Fe E = −0.447 V + e ⇌ E = +0.77 V FeO
4 + 8 H3O + 3 e⇌ + 6 H2O E = +2.20 V
The red-purple tetrahedral ferrate(VI) anion is such a strong oxidizing agent that it oxidizes ammonia to nitrogen (N2) and water to oxygen:
- 4 FeO
4 + 34 H
2O → 4 [Fe(H2O)6] + 20 OH
+ 3 O2
The pale-violet hexaquo complex [Fe(H2O)6] is an acid such that above pH 0 it is fully hydrolyzed:
[Fe(H2O)6] ⇌ [Fe(H2O)5(OH)] + H K = 10 mol dm [Fe(H2O)5(OH)] ⇌ [Fe(H2O)4(OH)2] + H K = 10 mol dm 2[Fe(H2O)6] ⇌ [Fe(H2O)4(OH)]4+2 + 2H + 2H2O K = 10 mol dm
As pH rises above 0 the above yellow hydrolyzed species form and as it rises above 2–3, reddish-brown hydrous iron(III) oxide precipitates out of solution. Although Fe has a d configuration, its absorption spectrum is not like that of Mn with its weak, spin-forbidden d–d bands, because Fe has higher positive charge and is more polarizing, lowering the energy of its ligand-to-metal charge transfer absorptions. Thus, all the above complexes are rather strongly colored, with the single exception of the hexaquo ion – and even that has a spectrum dominated by charge transfer in the near ultraviolet region. On the other hand, the pale green iron(II) hexaquo ion [Fe(H2O)6] does not undergo appreciable hydrolysis. Carbon dioxide is not evolved when carbonate anions are added, which instead results in white iron(II) carbonate being precipitated out. In excess carbon dioxide this forms the slightly soluble bicarbonate, which occurs commonly in groundwater, but it oxidises quickly in air to form iron(III) oxide that accounts for the brown deposits present in a sizeable number of streams.
Coordination compounds
Due to its electronic structure, iron has a very large coordination and organometallic chemistry.
Many coordination compounds of iron are known. A typical six-coordinate anion is hexachloroferrate(III), , found in the mixed salt tetrakis(methylammonium) hexachloroferrate(III) chloride. Complexes with multiple bidentate ligands have geometric isomers. For example, the trans-chlorohydridobis(bis-1,2-(diphenylphosphino)ethane)iron(II) complex is used as a starting material for compounds with the Fe(dppe)2 moiety. The ferrioxalate ion with three oxalate ligands displays helical chirality with its two non-superposable geometries labelled Λ (lambda) for the left-handed screw axis and Δ (delta) for the right-handed screw axis, in line with IUPAC conventions. Potassium ferrioxalate is used in chemical actinometry and along with its sodium salt undergoes photoreduction applied in old-style photographic processes. The dihydrate of iron(II) oxalate has a polymeric structure with co-planar oxalate ions bridging between iron centres with the water of crystallisation located forming the caps of each octahedron, as illustrated below.
Iron(III) complexes are quite similar to those of chromium(III) with the exception of iron(III)'s preference for O-donor instead of N-donor ligands. The latter tend to be rather more unstable than iron(II) complexes and often dissociate in water. Many Fe–O complexes show intense colors and are used as tests for phenols or enols. For example, in the ferric chloride test, used to determine the presence of phenols, iron(III) chloride reacts with a phenol to form a deep violet complex:
- 3 ArOH + FeCl3 → Fe(OAr)3 + 3 HCl (Ar = aryl)
Among the halide and pseudohalide complexes, fluoro complexes of iron(III) are the most stable, with the colorless being the most stable in aqueous solution. Chloro complexes are less stable and favor tetrahedral coordination as in ; and are reduced easily to iron(II). Thiocyanate is a common test for the presence of iron(III) as it forms the blood-red . Like manganese(II), most iron(III) complexes are high-spin, the exceptions being those with ligands that are high in the spectrochemical series such as cyanide. An example of a low-spin iron(III) complex is . Iron shows a great variety of electronic spin states, including every possible spin quantum number value for a d-block element from 0 (diamagnetic) to 5⁄2 (5 unpaired electrons). This value is always half the number of unpaired electrons. Complexes with zero to two unpaired electrons are considered low-spin and those with four or five are considered high-spin.
Iron(II) complexes are less stable than iron(III) complexes but the preference for O-donor ligands is less marked, so that for example [Fe(NH3)6] is known while [Fe(NH3)6] is not. They have a tendency to be oxidized to iron(III) but this can be moderated by low pH and the specific ligands used.
Organometallic compounds
Organoiron chemistry is the study of organometallic compounds of iron, where carbon atoms are covalently bound to the metal atom. They are many and varied, including cyanide complexes, carbonyl complexes, sandwich and half-sandwich compounds.
Prussian blue or "ferric ferrocyanide", Fe43, is an old and well-known iron-cyanide complex, extensively used as pigment and in several other applications. Its formation can be used as a simple wet chemistry test to distinguish between aqueous solutions of Fe and Fe as they react (respectively) with potassium ferricyanide and potassium ferrocyanide to form Prussian blue.
Another old example of an organoiron compound is iron pentacarbonyl, Fe(CO)5, in which a neutral iron atom is bound to the carbon atoms of five carbon monoxide molecules. The compound can be used to make carbonyl iron powder, a highly reactive form of metallic iron. Thermolysis of iron pentacarbonyl gives triiron dodecacarbonyl, Fe3(CO)12, a complex with a cluster of three iron atoms at its core. Collman's reagent, disodium tetracarbonylferrate, is a useful reagent for organic chemistry; it contains iron in the −2 oxidation state. Cyclopentadienyliron dicarbonyl dimer contains iron in the rare +1 oxidation state.
Structural formula of ferrocene and a powdered sampleA landmark in this field was the discovery in 1951 of the remarkably stable sandwich compound ferrocene Fe(C5H5)2, by Pauson and Kealy and independently by Miller and colleagues, whose surprising molecular structure was determined only a year later by Woodward and Wilkinson and Fischer. Ferrocene is still one of the most important tools and models in this class.
Iron-centered organometallic species are used as catalysts. The Knölker complex, for example, is a transfer hydrogenation catalyst for ketones.
Industrial uses
The iron compounds produced on the largest scale in industry are iron(II) sulfate (FeSO4·7H2O) and iron(III) chloride (FeCl3). The former is one of the most readily available sources of iron(II), but is less stable to aerial oxidation than Mohr's salt ((NH4)2Fe(SO4)2·6H2O). Iron(II) compounds tend to be oxidized to iron(III) compounds in the air.
History
Main article: History of ferrous metallurgyDevelopment of iron metallurgy
Iron is one of the elements undoubtedly known to the ancient world. It has been worked, or wrought, for millennia. However, iron artefacts of great age are much rarer than objects made of gold or silver due to the ease with which iron corrodes. The technology developed slowly, and even after the discovery of smelting it took many centuries for iron to replace bronze as the metal of choice for tools and weapons.
Meteoritic iron
Beads made from meteoric iron in 3500 BC or earlier were found in Gerzeh, Egypt by G. A. Wainwright. The beads contain 7.5% nickel, which is a signature of meteoric origin since iron found in the Earth's crust generally has only minuscule nickel impurities.
Meteoric iron was highly regarded due to its origin in the heavens and was often used to forge weapons and tools. For example, a dagger made of meteoric iron was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun, containing similar proportions of iron, cobalt, and nickel to a meteorite discovered in the area, deposited by an ancient meteor shower. Items that were likely made of iron by Egyptians date from 3000 to 2500 BC.
Meteoritic iron is comparably soft and ductile and easily cold forged but may get brittle when heated because of the nickel content.
Wrought iron
Main article: Wrought iron Further information: Ancient iron productionThe first iron production started in the Middle Bronze Age, but it took several centuries before iron displaced bronze. Samples of smelted iron from Asmar, Mesopotamia and Tall Chagar Bazaar in northern Syria were made sometime between 3000 and 2700 BC. The Hittites established an empire in north-central Anatolia around 1600 BC. They appear to be the first to understand the production of iron from its ores and regard it highly in their society. The Hittites began to smelt iron between 1500 and 1200 BC and the practice spread to the rest of the Near East after their empire fell in 1180 BC. The subsequent period is called the Iron Age.
Artifacts of smelted iron are found in India dating from 1800 to 1200 BC, and in the Levant from about 1500 BC (suggesting smelting in Anatolia or the Caucasus). Alleged references (compare history of metallurgy in South Asia) to iron in the Indian Vedas have been used for claims of a very early usage of iron in India respectively to date the texts as such. The rigveda term ayas (metal) refers to copper, while iron which is called as śyāma ayas, literally "black copper", first is mentioned in the post-rigvedic Atharvaveda.
Some archaeological evidence suggests iron was smelted in Zimbabwe and southeast Africa as early as the eighth century BC. Iron working was introduced to Greece in the late 11th century BC, from which it spread quickly throughout Europe.
The spread of ironworking in Central and Western Europe is associated with Celtic expansion. According to Pliny the Elder, iron use was common in the Roman era. In the lands of what is now considered China, iron appears approximately 700–500 BC. Iron smelting may have been introduced into China through Central Asia. The earliest evidence of the use of a blast furnace in China dates to the 1st century AD, and cupola furnaces were used as early as the Warring States period (403–221 BC). Usage of the blast and cupola furnace remained widespread during the Tang and Song dynasties.
During the Industrial Revolution in Britain, Henry Cort began refining iron from pig iron to wrought iron (or bar iron) using innovative production systems. In 1783 he patented the puddling process for refining iron ore. It was later improved by others, including Joseph Hall.
Cast iron
Main article: Cast ironCast iron was first produced in China during 5th century BC, but was hardly in Europe until the medieval period. The earliest cast iron artifacts were discovered by archaeologists in what is now modern Luhe County, Jiangsu in China. Cast iron was used in ancient China for warfare, agriculture, and architecture. During the medieval period, means were found in Europe of producing wrought iron from cast iron (in this context known as pig iron) using finery forges. For all these processes, charcoal was required as fuel.
Medieval blast furnaces were about 10 feet (3.0 m) tall and made of fireproof brick; forced air was usually provided by hand-operated bellows. Modern blast furnaces have grown much bigger, with hearths fourteen meters in diameter that allow them to produce thousands of tons of iron each day, but essentially operate in much the same way as they did during medieval times.
In 1709, Abraham Darby I established a coke-fired blast furnace to produce cast iron, replacing charcoal, although continuing to use blast furnaces. The ensuing availability of inexpensive iron was one of the factors leading to the Industrial Revolution. Toward the end of the 18th century, cast iron began to replace wrought iron for certain purposes, because it was cheaper. Carbon content in iron was not implicated as the reason for the differences in properties of wrought iron, cast iron, and steel until the 18th century.
Since iron was becoming cheaper and more plentiful, it also became a major structural material following the building of the innovative first iron bridge in 1778. This bridge still stands today as a monument to the role iron played in the Industrial Revolution. Following this, iron was used in rails, boats, ships, aqueducts, and buildings, as well as in iron cylinders in steam engines. Railways have been central to the formation of modernity and ideas of progress and various languages refer to railways as iron road (e.g. French chemin de fer, German Eisenbahn, Turkish demiryolu, Russian железная дорога, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean 鐵道, Vietnamese đường sắt).
Steel
Main article: Steel See also: SteelmakingSteel (with smaller carbon content than pig iron but more than wrought iron) was first produced in antiquity by using a bloomery. Blacksmiths in Luristan in western Persia were making good steel by 1000 BC. Then improved versions, Wootz steel by India and Damascus steel were developed around 300 BC and AD 500 respectively. These methods were specialized, and so steel did not become a major commodity until the 1850s.
New methods of producing it by carburizing bars of iron in the cementation process were devised in the 17th century. In the Industrial Revolution, new methods of producing bar iron without charcoal were devised and these were later applied to produce steel. In the late 1850s, Henry Bessemer invented a new steelmaking process, involving blowing air through molten pig iron, to produce mild steel. This made steel much more economical, thereby leading to wrought iron no longer being produced in large quantities.
Foundations of modern chemistry
In 1774, Antoine Lavoisier used the reaction of water steam with metallic iron inside an incandescent iron tube to produce hydrogen in his experiments leading to the demonstration of the conservation of mass, which was instrumental in changing chemistry from a qualitative science to a quantitative one.
Symbolic role
Iron plays a certain role in mythology and has found various usage as a metaphor and in folklore. The Greek poet Hesiod's Works and Days (lines 109–201) lists different ages of man named after metals like gold, silver, bronze and iron to account for successive ages of humanity. The Iron Age was closely related with Rome, and in Ovid's Metamorphoses
The Virtues, in despair, quit the earth; and the depravity of man becomes universal and complete. Hard steel succeeded then.
— Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book I, Iron age, line 160 ff
An example of the importance of iron's symbolic role may be found in the German Campaign of 1813. Frederick William III commissioned then the first Iron Cross as military decoration. Berlin iron jewellery reached its peak production between 1813 and 1815, when the Prussian royal family urged citizens to donate gold and silver jewellery for military funding. The inscription Ich gab Gold für Eisen (I gave gold for iron) was used as well in later war efforts.
Production of metallic iron
Laboratory routes
For a few limited purposes when it is needed, pure iron is produced in the laboratory in small quantities by reducing the pure oxide or hydroxide with hydrogen, or forming iron pentacarbonyl and heating it to 250 °C so that it decomposes to form pure iron powder. Another method is electrolysis of ferrous chloride onto an iron cathode.
Main industrial route
See also: Iron oreCountry | Iron ore | Pig iron | Direct iron | Steel |
---|---|---|---|---|
China | 1,114.9 | 549.4 | 573.6 | |
Australia | 393.9 | 4.4 | 5.2 | |
Brazil | 305.0 | 25.1 | 0.011 | 26.5 |
Japan | 66.9 | 87.5 | ||
India | 257.4 | 38.2 | 23.4 | 63.5 |
Russia | 92.1 | 43.9 | 4.7 | 60.0 |
Ukraine | 65.8 | 25.7 | 29.9 | |
South Korea | 0.1 | 27.3 | 48.6 | |
Germany | 0.4 | 20.1 | 0.38 | 32.7 |
World | 1,594.9 | 914.0 | 64.5 | 1,232.4 |
Nowadays, the industrial production of iron or steel consists of two main stages. In the first stage, iron ore is reduced with coke in a blast furnace, and the molten metal is separated from gross impurities such as silicate minerals. This stage yields an alloy – pig iron – that contains relatively large amounts of carbon. In the second stage, the amount of carbon in the pig iron is lowered by oxidation to yield wrought iron, steel, or cast iron. Other metals can be added at this stage to form alloy steels.
Blast furnace processing
Main article: Blast furnaceThe blast furnace is loaded with iron ores, usually hematite Fe2O3 or magnetite Fe3O4, along with coke (coal that has been separately baked to remove volatile components) and flux (limestone or dolomite). "Blasts" of air pre-heated to 900 °C (sometimes with oxygen enrichment) is blown through the mixture, in sufficient amount to turn the carbon into carbon monoxide:
- 2 C + O2 → 2 CO
This reaction raises the temperature to about 2000 °C. The carbon monoxide reduces the iron ore to metallic iron:
- Fe2O3 + 3 CO → 2 Fe + 3 CO2
Some iron in the high-temperature lower region of the furnace reacts directly with the coke:
- 2 Fe2O3 + 3 C → 4 Fe + 3 CO2
The flux removes silicaceous minerals in the ore, which would otherwise clog the furnace: The heat of the furnace decomposes the carbonates to calcium oxide, which reacts with any excess silica to form a slag composed of calcium silicate CaSiO3 or other products. At the furnace's temperature, the metal and the slag are both molten. They collect at the bottom as two immiscible liquid layers (with the slag on top), that are then easily separated. The slag can be used as a material in road construction or to improve mineral-poor soils for agriculture.
Steelmaking thus remains one of the largest industrial contributors of CO2 emissions in the world.
- 17th century Chinese illustration of workers at a blast furnace, making wrought iron from pig iron
- How iron was extracted in the 19th century
- Iron furnace in Columbus, Ohio, 1922
Steelmaking
Main articles: Steelmaking and IronworksThe pig iron produced by the blast furnace process contains up to 4–5% carbon (by mass), with small amounts of other impurities like sulfur, magnesium, phosphorus, and manganese. This high level of carbon makes it relatively weak and brittle. Reducing the amount of carbon to 0.002–2.1% produces steel, which may be up to 1000 times harder than pure iron. A great variety of steel articles can then be made by cold working, hot rolling, forging, machining, etc. Removing the impurities from pig iron, but leaving 2–4% carbon, results in cast iron, which is cast by foundries into articles such as stoves, pipes, radiators, lamp-posts, and rails.
Steel products often undergo various heat treatments after they are forged to shape. Annealing consists of heating them to 700–800 °C for several hours and then gradual cooling. It makes the steel softer and more workable.
- This heap of iron ore pellets will be used in steel production.
- A pot of molten iron being used to make steel
Direct iron reduction
Owing to environmental concerns, alternative methods of processing iron have been developed. "Direct iron reduction" reduces iron ore to a ferrous lump called "sponge" iron or "direct" iron that is suitable for steelmaking. Two main reactions comprise the direct reduction process:
Natural gas is partially oxidized (with heat and a catalyst):
- 2 CH4 + O2 → 2 CO + 4 H2
Iron ore is then treated with these gases in a furnace, producing solid sponge iron:
- Fe2O3 + CO + 2 H2 → 2 Fe + CO2 + 2 H2O
Silica is removed by adding a limestone flux as described above.
Thermite process
Main article: ThermiteIgnition of a mixture of aluminium powder and iron oxide yields metallic iron via the thermite reaction:
- Fe2O3 + 2 Al → 2 Fe + Al2O3
Alternatively pig iron may be made into steel (with up to about 2% carbon) or wrought iron (commercially pure iron). Various processes have been used for this, including finery forges, puddling furnaces, Bessemer converters, open hearth furnaces, basic oxygen furnaces, and electric arc furnaces. In all cases, the objective is to oxidize some or all of the carbon, together with other impurities. On the other hand, other metals may be added to make alloy steels.
Molten oxide electrolysis
Molten oxide electrolysis (MOE) uses electrolysis of molten iron oxide to yield metallic iron. It is studied in laboratory-scale experiments and is proposed as a method for industrial iron production that has no direct emissions of carbon dioxide. It uses a liquid iron cathode, an anode formed from an alloy of chromium, aluminium and iron, and the electrolyte is a mixture of molten metal oxides into which iron ore is dissolved. The current keeps the electrolyte molten and reduces the iron oxide. Oxygen gas is produced in addition to liquid iron. The only carbon dioxide emissions come from any fossil fuel-generated electricity used to heat and reduce the metal.
Applications
Material | TS (MPa) |
BH (Brinell) |
---|---|---|
Iron whiskers | 11000 | |
Ausformed (hardened) steel |
2930 | 850–1200 |
Martensitic steel | 2070 | 600 |
Bainitic steel | 1380 | 400 |
Pearlitic steel | 1200 | 350 |
Cold-worked iron | 690 | 200 |
Small-grain iron | 340 | 100 |
Carbon-containing iron | 140 | 40 |
Pure, single-crystal iron | 10 | 3 |
As structural material
Iron is the most widely used of all the metals, accounting for over 90% of worldwide metal production. Its low cost and high strength often make it the material of choice to withstand stress or transmit forces, such as the construction of machinery and machine tools, rails, automobiles, ship hulls, concrete reinforcing bars, and the load-carrying framework of buildings. Since pure iron is quite soft, it is most commonly combined with alloying elements to make steel.
Mechanical properties
The mechanical properties of iron and its alloys are extremely relevant to their structural applications. Those properties can be evaluated in various ways, including the Brinell test, the Rockwell test and the Vickers hardness test.
The properties of pure iron are often used to calibrate measurements or to compare tests. However, the mechanical properties of iron are significantly affected by the sample's purity: pure, single crystals of iron are actually softer than aluminium, and the purest industrially produced iron (99.99%) has a hardness of 20–30 Brinell. The pure iron (99.9%~99.999%), especially called electrolytic iron, is industrially produced by electrolytic refining.
An increase in the carbon content will cause a significant increase in the hardness and tensile strength of iron. Maximum hardness of 65 Rc is achieved with a 0.6% carbon content, although the alloy has low tensile strength. Because of the softness of iron, it is much easier to work with than its heavier congeners ruthenium and osmium.
Types of steels and alloys
See also: Steelα-Iron is a fairly soft metal that can dissolve only a small concentration of carbon (no more than 0.021% by mass at 910 °C). Austenite (γ-iron) is similarly soft and metallic but can dissolve considerably more carbon (as much as 2.04% by mass at 1146 °C). This form of iron is used in the type of stainless steel used for making cutlery, and hospital and food-service equipment.
Commercially available iron is classified based on purity and the abundance of additives. Pig iron has 3.5–4.5% carbon and contains varying amounts of contaminants such as sulfur, silicon and phosphorus. Pig iron is not a saleable product, but rather an intermediate step in the production of cast iron and steel. The reduction of contaminants in pig iron that negatively affect material properties, such as sulfur and phosphorus, yields cast iron containing 2–4% carbon, 1–6% silicon, and small amounts of manganese. Pig iron has a melting point in the range of 1420–1470 K, which is lower than either of its two main components, and makes it the first product to be melted when carbon and iron are heated together. Its mechanical properties vary greatly and depend on the form the carbon takes in the alloy.
"White" cast irons contain their carbon in the form of cementite, or iron carbide (Fe3C). This hard, brittle compound dominates the mechanical properties of white cast irons, rendering them hard, but unresistant to shock. The broken surface of a white cast iron is full of fine facets of the broken iron carbide, a very pale, silvery, shiny material, hence the appellation. Cooling a mixture of iron with 0.8% carbon slowly below 723 °C to room temperature results in separate, alternating layers of cementite and α-iron, which is soft and malleable and is called pearlite for its appearance. Rapid cooling, on the other hand, does not allow time for this separation and creates hard and brittle martensite. The steel can then be tempered by reheating to a temperature in between, changing the proportions of pearlite and martensite. The end product below 0.8% carbon content is a pearlite-αFe mixture, and that above 0.8% carbon content is a pearlite-cementite mixture.
In gray iron the carbon exists as separate, fine flakes of graphite, and also renders the material brittle due to the sharp edged flakes of graphite that produce stress concentration sites within the material. A newer variant of gray iron, referred to as ductile iron, is specially treated with trace amounts of magnesium to alter the shape of graphite to spheroids, or nodules, reducing the stress concentrations and vastly increasing the toughness and strength of the material.
Wrought iron contains less than 0.25% carbon but large amounts of slag that give it a fibrous characteristic. Wrought iron is more corrosion resistant than steel. It has been almost completely replaced by mild steel, which corrodes more readily than wrought iron, but is cheaper and more widely available. Carbon steel contains 2.0% carbon or less, with small amounts of manganese, sulfur, phosphorus, and silicon. Alloy steels contain varying amounts of carbon as well as other metals, such as chromium, vanadium, molybdenum, nickel, tungsten, etc. Their alloy content raises their cost, and so they are usually only employed for specialist uses. One common alloy steel, though, is stainless steel. Recent developments in ferrous metallurgy have produced a growing range of microalloyed steels, also termed 'HSLA' or high-strength, low alloy steels, containing tiny additions to produce high strengths and often spectacular toughness at minimal cost.
Alloys with high purity elemental makeups (such as alloys of electrolytic iron) have specifically enhanced properties such as ductility, tensile strength, toughness, fatigue strength, heat resistance, and corrosion resistance.
Apart from traditional applications, iron is also used for protection from ionizing radiation. Although it is lighter than another traditional protection material, lead, it is much stronger mechanically.
The main disadvantage of iron and steel is that pure iron, and most of its alloys, suffer badly from rust if not protected in some way, a cost amounting to over 1% of the world's economy. Painting, galvanization, passivation, plastic coating and bluing are all used to protect iron from rust by excluding water and oxygen or by cathodic protection. The mechanism of the rusting of iron is as follows:
- Cathode: 3 O2 + 6 H2O + 12 e → 12 OH
- Anode: 4 Fe → 4 Fe + 8 e; 4 Fe → 4 Fe + 4 e
- Overall: 4 Fe + 3 O2 + 6 H2O → 4 Fe + 12 OH → 4 Fe(OH)3 or 4 FeO(OH) + 4 H2O
The electrolyte is usually iron(II) sulfate in urban areas (formed when atmospheric sulfur dioxide attacks iron), and salt particles in the atmosphere in seaside areas.
Catalysts and reagents
Because Fe is inexpensive and nontoxic, much effort has been devoted to the development of Fe-based catalysts and reagents. Iron is however less common as a catalyst in commercial processes than more expensive metals. In biology, Fe-containing enzymes are pervasive.
Iron catalysts are traditionally used in the Haber–Bosch process for the production of ammonia and the Fischer–Tropsch process for conversion of carbon monoxide to hydrocarbons for fuels and lubricants. Powdered iron in an acidic medium is used in the Bechamp reduction, the conversion of nitrobenzene to aniline.
Iron compounds
Iron(III) oxide mixed with aluminium powder can be ignited to create a thermite reaction, used in welding large iron parts (like rails) and purifying ores. Iron(III) oxide and oxyhydroxide are used as reddish and ocher pigments.
Iron(III) chloride finds use in water purification and sewage treatment, in the dyeing of cloth, as a coloring agent in paints, as an additive in animal feed, and as an etchant for copper in the manufacture of printed circuit boards. It can also be dissolved in alcohol to form tincture of iron, which is used as a medicine to stop bleeding in canaries.
Iron(II) sulfate is used as a precursor to other iron compounds. It is also used to reduce chromate in cement. It is used to fortify foods and treat iron deficiency anemia. Iron(III) sulfate is used in settling minute sewage particles in tank water. Iron(II) chloride is used as a reducing flocculating agent, in the formation of iron complexes and magnetic iron oxides, and as a reducing agent in organic synthesis.
Sodium nitroprusside is a drug used as a vasodilator. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.
Biological and pathological role
Main article: Iron in biologyIron is required for life. The iron–sulfur clusters are pervasive and include nitrogenase, the enzymes responsible for biological nitrogen fixation. Iron-containing proteins participate in transport, storage and use of oxygen. Iron proteins are involved in electron transfer.
Examples of iron-containing proteins in higher organisms include hemoglobin, cytochrome (see high-valent iron), and catalase. The average adult human contains about 0.005% body weight of iron, or about four grams, of which three quarters is in hemoglobin—a level that remains constant despite only about one milligram of iron being absorbed each day, because the human body recycles its hemoglobin for the iron content.
Microbial growth may be assisted by oxidation of iron(II) or by reduction of iron(III).
Biochemistry
Iron acquisition poses a problem for aerobic organisms because ferric iron is poorly soluble near neutral pH. Thus, these organisms have developed means to absorb iron as complexes, sometimes taking up ferrous iron before oxidising it back to ferric iron. In particular, bacteria have evolved very high-affinity sequestering agents called siderophores.
After uptake in human cells, iron storage is precisely regulated. A major component of this regulation is the protein transferrin, which binds iron ions absorbed from the duodenum and carries it in the blood to cells. Transferrin contains Fe in the middle of a distorted octahedron, bonded to one nitrogen, three oxygens and a chelating carbonate anion that traps the Fe ion: it has such a high stability constant that it is very effective at taking up Fe ions even from the most stable complexes. At the bone marrow, transferrin is reduced from Fe to Fe and stored as ferritin to be incorporated into hemoglobin.
The most commonly known and studied bioinorganic iron compounds (biological iron molecules) are the heme proteins: examples are hemoglobin, myoglobin, and cytochrome P450. These compounds participate in transporting gases, building enzymes, and transferring electrons. Metalloproteins are a group of proteins with metal ion cofactors. Some examples of iron metalloproteins are ferritin and rubredoxin. Many enzymes vital to life contain iron, such as catalase, lipoxygenases, and IRE-BP.
Hemoglobin is an oxygen carrier that occurs in red blood cells and contributes their color, transporting oxygen in the arteries from the lungs to the muscles where it is transferred to myoglobin, which stores it until it is needed for the metabolic oxidation of glucose, generating energy. Here the hemoglobin binds to carbon dioxide, produced when glucose is oxidized, which is transported through the veins by hemoglobin (predominantly as bicarbonate anions) back to the lungs where it is exhaled. In hemoglobin, the iron is in one of four heme groups and has six possible coordination sites; four are occupied by nitrogen atoms in a porphyrin ring, the fifth by an imidazole nitrogen in a histidine residue of one of the protein chains attached to the heme group, and the sixth is reserved for the oxygen molecule it can reversibly bind to. When hemoglobin is not attached to oxygen (and is then called deoxyhemoglobin), the Fe ion at the center of the heme group (in the hydrophobic protein interior) is in a high-spin configuration. It is thus too large to fit inside the porphyrin ring, which bends instead into a dome with the Fe ion about 55 picometers above it. In this configuration, the sixth coordination site reserved for the oxygen is blocked by another histidine residue.
When deoxyhemoglobin picks up an oxygen molecule, this histidine residue moves away and returns once the oxygen is securely attached to form a hydrogen bond with it. This results in the Fe ion switching to a low-spin configuration, resulting in a 20% decrease in ionic radius so that now it can fit into the porphyrin ring, which becomes planar. Additionally, this hydrogen bonding results in the tilting of the oxygen molecule, resulting in a Fe–O–O bond angle of around 120° that avoids the formation of Fe–O–Fe or Fe–O2–Fe bridges that would lead to electron transfer, the oxidation of Fe to Fe, and the destruction of hemoglobin. This results in a movement of all the protein chains that leads to the other subunits of hemoglobin changing shape to a form with larger oxygen affinity. Thus, when deoxyhemoglobin takes up oxygen, its affinity for more oxygen increases, and vice versa. Myoglobin, on the other hand, contains only one heme group and hence this cooperative effect cannot occur. Thus, while hemoglobin is almost saturated with oxygen in the high partial pressures of oxygen found in the lungs, its affinity for oxygen is much lower than that of myoglobin, which oxygenates even at low partial pressures of oxygen found in muscle tissue. As described by the Bohr effect (named after Christian Bohr, the father of Niels Bohr), the oxygen affinity of hemoglobin diminishes in the presence of carbon dioxide.
Carbon monoxide and phosphorus trifluoride are poisonous to humans because they bind to hemoglobin similarly to oxygen, but with much more strength, so that oxygen can no longer be transported throughout the body. Hemoglobin bound to carbon monoxide is known as carboxyhemoglobin. This effect also plays a minor role in the toxicity of cyanide, but there the major effect is by far its interference with the proper functioning of the electron transport protein cytochrome a. The cytochrome proteins also involve heme groups and are involved in the metabolic oxidation of glucose by oxygen. The sixth coordination site is then occupied by either another imidazole nitrogen or a methionine sulfur, so that these proteins are largely inert to oxygen—with the exception of cytochrome a, which bonds directly to oxygen and thus is very easily poisoned by cyanide. Here, the electron transfer takes place as the iron remains in low spin but changes between the +2 and +3 oxidation states. Since the reduction potential of each step is slightly greater than the previous one, the energy is released step-by-step and can thus be stored in adenosine triphosphate. Cytochrome a is slightly distinct, as it occurs at the mitochondrial membrane, binds directly to oxygen, and transports protons as well as electrons, as follows:
- 4 Cytc + O2 + 8H
inside → 4 Cytc + 2 H2O + 4H
outside
Although the heme proteins are the most important class of iron-containing proteins, the iron–sulfur proteins are also very important, being involved in electron transfer, which is possible since iron can exist stably in either the +2 or +3 oxidation states. These have one, two, four, or eight iron atoms that are each approximately tetrahedrally coordinated to four sulfur atoms; because of this tetrahedral coordination, they always have high-spin iron. The simplest of such compounds is rubredoxin, which has only one iron atom coordinated to four sulfur atoms from cysteine residues in the surrounding peptide chains. Another important class of iron–sulfur proteins is the ferredoxins, which have multiple iron atoms. Transferrin does not belong to either of these classes.
The ability of sea mussels to maintain their grip on rocks in the ocean is facilitated by their use of organometallic iron-based bonds in their protein-rich cuticles. Based on synthetic replicas, the presence of iron in these structures increased elastic modulus 770 times, tensile strength 58 times, and toughness 92 times. The amount of stress required to permanently damage them increased 76 times.
Nutrition
Diet
Iron is pervasive, but particularly rich sources of dietary iron include red meat, oysters, beans, poultry, fish, leaf vegetables, watercress, tofu, and blackstrap molasses. Bread and breakfast cereals are sometimes specifically fortified with iron.
Iron provided by dietary supplements is often found as iron(II) fumarate, although iron(II) sulfate is cheaper and is absorbed equally well. Elemental iron, or reduced iron, despite being absorbed at only one-third to two-thirds the efficiency (relative to iron sulfate), is often added to foods such as breakfast cereals or enriched wheat flour. Iron is most available to the body when chelated to amino acids and is also available for use as a common iron supplement. Glycine, the least expensive amino acid, is most often used to produce iron glycinate supplements.
Dietary recommendations
The U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM) updated Estimated Average Requirements (EARs) and Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for iron in 2001. The current EAR for iron for women ages 14–18 is 7.9 mg/day, 8.1 mg/day for ages 19–50 and 5.0 mg/day thereafter (postmenopause). For men, the EAR is 6.0 mg/day for ages 19 and up. The RDA is 15.0 mg/day for women ages 15–18, 18.0 mg/day for ages 19–50 and 8.0 mg/day thereafter. For men, 8.0 mg/day for ages 19 and up. RDAs are higher than EARs so as to identify amounts that will cover people with higher-than-average requirements. RDA for pregnancy is 27 mg/day and, for lactation, 9 mg/day. For children ages 1–3 years 7 mg/day, 10 mg/day for ages 4–8 and 8 mg/day for ages 9–13. As for safety, the IOM also sets Tolerable upper intake levels (ULs) for vitamins and minerals when evidence is sufficient. In the case of iron, the UL is set at 45 mg/day. Collectively the EARs, RDAs and ULs are referred to as Dietary Reference Intakes.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) refers to the collective set of information as Dietary Reference Values, with Population Reference Intake (PRI) instead of RDA, and Average Requirement instead of EAR. AI and UL are defined the same as in the United States. For women the PRI is 13 mg/day ages 15–17 years, 16 mg/day for women ages 18 and up who are premenopausal and 11 mg/day postmenopausal. For pregnancy and lactation, 16 mg/day. For men the PRI is 11 mg/day ages 15 and older. For children ages 1 to 14, the PRI increases from 7 to 11 mg/day. The PRIs are higher than the U.S. RDAs, with the exception of pregnancy. The EFSA reviewed the same safety question did not establish a UL.
Infants may require iron supplements if they are bottle-fed cow's milk. Frequent blood donors are at risk of low iron levels and are often advised to supplement their iron intake.
For U.S. food and dietary supplement labeling purposes, the amount in a serving is expressed as a percent of Daily Value (%DV). For iron labeling purposes, 100% of the Daily Value was 18 mg, and as of May 27, 2016 remained unchanged at 18 mg. A table of the old and new adult daily values is provided at Reference Daily Intake.
Deficiency
Main article: Iron deficiencyIron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency in the world. When loss of iron is not adequately compensated by adequate dietary iron intake, a state of latent iron deficiency occurs, which over time leads to iron-deficiency anemia if left untreated, which is characterised by an insufficient number of red blood cells and an insufficient amount of hemoglobin. Children, pre-menopausal women (women of child-bearing age), and people with poor diet are most susceptible to the disease. Most cases of iron-deficiency anemia are mild, but if not treated can cause problems like fast or irregular heartbeat, complications during pregnancy, and delayed growth in infants and children.
The brain is resistant to acute iron deficiency due to the slow transport of iron through the blood brain barrier. Acute fluctuations in iron status (marked by serum ferritin levels) do not reflect brain iron status, but prolonged nutritional iron deficiency is suspected to reduce brain iron concentrations over time. In the brain, iron plays a role in oxygen transport, myelin synthesis, mitochondrial respiration, and as a cofactor for neurotransmitter synthesis and metabolism. Animal models of nutritional iron deficiency report biomolecular changes resembling those seen in Parkinson's and Huntington's disease. However, age-related accumulation of iron in the brain has also been linked to the development of Parkinson's.
Excess
Main article: Iron overloadIron uptake is tightly regulated by the human body, which has no regulated physiological means of excreting iron. Only small amounts of iron are lost daily due to mucosal and skin epithelial cell sloughing, so control of iron levels is primarily accomplished by regulating uptake. Regulation of iron uptake is impaired in some people as a result of a genetic defect that maps to the HLA-H gene region on chromosome 6 and leads to abnormally low levels of hepcidin, a key regulator of the entry of iron into the circulatory system in mammals. In these people, excessive iron intake can result in iron overload disorders, known medically as hemochromatosis. Many people have an undiagnosed genetic susceptibility to iron overload, and are not aware of a family history of the problem. For this reason, people should not take iron supplements unless they suffer from iron deficiency and have consulted a doctor. Hemochromatosis is estimated to be the cause of 0.3–0.8% of all metabolic diseases of Caucasians.
Overdoses of ingested iron can cause excessive levels of free iron in the blood. High blood levels of free ferrous iron react with peroxides to produce highly reactive free radicals that can damage DNA, proteins, lipids, and other cellular components. Iron toxicity occurs when the cell contains free iron, which generally occurs when iron levels exceed the availability of transferrin to bind the iron. Damage to the cells of the gastrointestinal tract can also prevent them from regulating iron absorption, leading to further increases in blood levels. Iron typically damages cells in the heart, liver and elsewhere, causing adverse effects that include coma, metabolic acidosis, shock, liver failure, coagulopathy, long-term organ damage, and even death. Humans experience iron toxicity when the iron exceeds 20 milligrams for every kilogram of body mass; 60 milligrams per kilogram is considered a lethal dose. Overconsumption of iron, often the result of children eating large quantities of ferrous sulfate tablets intended for adult consumption, is one of the most common toxicological causes of death in children under six. The Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) sets the Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) for adults at 45 mg/day. For children under fourteen years old the UL is 40 mg/day.
The medical management of iron toxicity is complicated, and can include use of a specific chelating agent called deferoxamine to bind and expel excess iron from the body.
ADHD
Some research has suggested that low thalamic iron levels may play a role in the pathophysiology of ADHD. Some researchers have found that iron supplementation can be effective especially in the inattentive subtype of the disorder.
Some researchers in the 2000s suggested a link between low levels of iron in the blood and ADHD. A 2012 study found no such correlation.
Cancer
The role of iron in cancer defense can be described as a "double-edged sword" because of its pervasive presence in non-pathological processes. People having chemotherapy may develop iron deficiency and anemia, for which intravenous iron therapy is used to restore iron levels. Iron overload, which may occur from high consumption of red meat, may initiate tumor growth and increase susceptibility to cancer onset, particularly for colorectal cancer.
Marine systems
Iron plays an essential role in marine systems and can act as a limiting nutrient for planktonic activity. Because of this, too much of a decrease in iron may lead to a decrease in growth rates in phytoplanktonic organisms such as diatoms. Iron can also be oxidized by marine microbes under conditions that are high in iron and low in oxygen.
Iron can enter marine systems through adjoining rivers and directly from the atmosphere. Once iron enters the ocean, it can be distributed throughout the water column through ocean mixing and through recycling on the cellular level. In the arctic, sea ice plays a major role in the store and distribution of iron in the ocean, depleting oceanic iron as it freezes in the winter and releasing it back into the water when thawing occurs in the summer. The iron cycle can fluctuate the forms of iron from aqueous to particle forms altering the availability of iron to primary producers. Increased light and warmth increases the amount of iron that is in forms that are usable by primary producers.
See also
- Economically important iron deposits include:
- Carajás Mine in the state of Pará, Brazil, is thought to be the largest iron deposit in the world.
- El Mutún in Bolivia, where 10% of the world's accessible iron ore is located.
- Hamersley Basin is the largest iron ore deposit in Australia.
- Kiirunavaara in Sweden, where one of the world's largest deposits of iron ore is located
- The Mesabi Iron Range is the chief iron ore mining district in the United States.
- Iron and steel industry
- Iron cycle
- Iron nanoparticle
- Iron–platinum nanoparticle
- Iron fertilization – proposed fertilization of oceans to stimulate phytoplankton growth
- Iron-oxidizing bacteria
- List of countries by iron production
- Pelletising – process of creation of iron ore pellets
- Rustproof iron
- Steel
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Bibliography
- Greenwood, Norman N.; Earnshaw, Alan (1997). Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-08-037941-8.
- Weeks, Mary Elvira; Leichester, Henry M. (1968). "Elements known to the ancients". Discovery of the elements. Easton, PA: Journal of Chemical Education. pp. 29–40. ISBN 0-7661-3872-0. LCCN 68-15217.
Further reading
- H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry ... to 1775 AD (Routledge, London, 1957)
- R.F. Tylecote, History of Metallurgy (Institute of Materials, London 1992).
- R.F. Tylecote, "Iron in the Industrial Revolution" in J. Day and R.F. Tylecote, The Industrial Revolution in Metals (Institute of Materials 1991), 200–60.
External links
- It's Elemental – Iron
- Iron at The Periodic Table of Videos (University of Nottingham)
- Metallurgy for the non-Metallurgist
- Iron by J. B. Calvert
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