From Hydrogen to Tellurium - IRON

IRON


Most people are familiar with the 26th element - Iron. Its first claim to fame is from the Iron Age. This period of history extended from about 800BC to about 100BC. Prior to this we had had the Stone and then the Bronze age. The discovery of Iron led to great advances in civilization. Instead of having to mould tools, smiths were able to heat the iron and beat it into shape.


Though the 6th most common element in the universe, Iron is the most common element in the planet - most of the outer and inner core of the earth are made up of Iron. It is also essential for life. Haemoglobin in our blood is an iron containing molecule. A shortage of Iron in the human body leads to anemia. To prevent this Iron is added to some staple foodstuffs such as breakfast cereals.


So Iron has the chemical symbol Fe. Like manganese its symbol is made up of 2 sequential alphabetic letters, however Fe are sequential when you are saying the alphabet backwards.


Iron is very reactive - it reacts with oxygen to form rust. This rust then flakes off leaving the metal surface exposed so more rust formation occurs. Because Iron rusts so readily there are not many ancient pieces of iron from the Iron age still in existence.


Iron is mixed with Carbon to form steel. Steel is stronger than Iron.






Experiment of the Week


Extract Iron from Breakfast cereal.


You will need:
100g Cereal fortified with iron
A large ziploc bag
A magnet - it is a good idea to cover the magnet with sticky tape before doing this experiment as it is very difficult to remove the iron filings from the magnet when you have finished.
Magnifying glass


What to do:
Pour the cereal into the ziploc bag. 
Put the magnet into the bag
Seal the bag
Shake the bag  making sure the magnet moves around all the cereal.
Remove the magnet and examine it using a magnifying glass.


You should see little iron filings on the magnet.