The Importance of Iron in Our Daily Life

August 18th, 2012 by tinaroth

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Iron is the most used metal in our lives. Iron is indeed an incredibly useful substance and we use it
abundantly because it extremely strong than copper or wood and less brittle when compared to
strong. Iron can also be easily shaped into various form if it is heated properly, allowing us to make
tools as our needs and unlike the wood, it can handle very high temperature.
The unique property of iron is that you can magnetize it and make useful in the making of electric
motors and generators. The most interesting thing is that we will not have to worried about the
shortage of this material because it occupy 5 percent of the earths crust and some ores contains
about 70 percent of iron. In addition, those ores can easily be extracted from earth.
Lets compare iron with another element, aluminum. Refining aluminum needs huge amount
electricity and to shape it, you have to either extrude it or cast it. Iron is, however, much easier to use
and also harder than aluminum. The substance has been very useful to people for a long time, while
aluminum is not effective as iron and it is not abundant on earth.
The only real problem about Iron is rust which is controllable. One can easily control it by
galvanizing, chrome plating or painting. To control it, you must be sure that iron is not in contact of
air because air moisture is the reason why rust forms on the iron.
The day will come when we will be very advanced in terms of technology and iron will be completely
replaced by plastics, aluminum, things like glass fibers and carbon, but it is not these days. These
days we use iron because economic equations tell us that iron inexpensive iron has many
advantages over those expensive alternatives.
Iron is a metal which is the most common element found in the earth and the sixth most common
element in the universe. It forms much of the outer and inner core of the earth and is also found in
the rocky planets. This metallic element has an atomic number of 26 and the group and period
number in the periodic table are VIII and 4 respectively.
Atomic Structure: atomic number is 26, which means it has 26 electrons and the outer orbital holds 2
free electrons that form ionic bonds with the non-metal elements. In the nuclease, it has 26 protons
and 30 neutrons.

Physical properties:
It is malleable and ductile.
It is a grayish or silvery-white metal.
Has a very high tensile strength.
The melting point of pure iron is 2,797 degree Fahrenheit (1,536 degree centigrade) and boiling
point is 5,400 degree Fahrenheit (3000 degree centigrade).
Iron can easily be bent into a desired shape or thickness, which means it is very workable.
Has a density of 7.86 g/cm3 at 20 degree centigrade temperature.
Crystalline structure is cubic.
Its atomic mass is 55.847.
It is one of the 3 naturally occurring magnetic elements. (other two are Nickel and Cobalt)
Chemical properties: Iron rusts in moist air, but does not in dry air. The element dissolves
immediately in dilute acid. It is a chemically active metal and it forms 2 major series of chemical
compounds, including ferrous or the bivalent iron (II), compounds and ferric or the trivalent iron (III),
compounds.
Applications: Iron is the most used metal of the earth because it has high strength and is not
expensive. Its applications go from scredrivers to washing machine, from food containers to family
car, from cargo ships to paper staples. Some forms of iron include carbon steel, cast iron, pig iron,
alloy steels, wrought iron and iron oxides.

Characteristics
June 5th, 2012 by Brad
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Mechanical properties
Mechanical properties of iron and its alloys are evaluated using a variety of tests, such as the Brinell
test, Rockwell test, or tensile strength tests, among others; the results on iron are so consistent that

iron is often used to calibrate measurements or to relate the results of one test to another. Those
measurements reveal that mechanical properties of iron crucially depend on purity: Purest researchpurpose single crystals of iron are softer than aluminium. Addition of only 10 parts per million of
carbon doubles their strength. The hardness increases rapidly with carbon content up to 0.2% and
saturates at ~0.6%. The purest industrially produced iron (about 99.99% purity) has a hardness of
2030 Brinell.
Phase diagram and allotropes
Iron represents an example of allotropy in a metal. There are at least four allotropic forms of iron,
known as , , , and ; at very high pressures, some controversial experimental evidence exists for
a phase stable at very high pressures and temperatures. As molten iron cools down it crystallizes
at 1538 C into its allotrope, which has a body-centered cubic (bcc) crystal structure. As it cools
further its crystal structure changes to face-centered cubic (fcc) at 1394 C, when it is known as iron, or austenite. At 912 C the crystal structure again becomes bcc as -iron, or ferrite, is formed,
and at 770 C (the Curie point, Tc) iron becomes magnetic. Iron is of greatest importance when
mixed with certain other metals and with carbon to form steels. There are many types of steels, all
with different properties, and an understanding of the properties of the allotropes of iron is key to the
manufacture of good quality steels.
Isotopes
Naturally occurring iron consists of four stable isotopes: 5.845% of 54Fe, 91.754% of 56Fe, 2.119%
of 57Fe and 0.282% of 58Fe. The nuclide 54Fe is predicted to undergo double beta decay, but this
process had never been observed experimentally for these nuclei, and only the lower limit on the
half-life was established: t1/2>3.11022 years. 60Fe is an extinct radionuclide of long half-life (2.6
million years).
Much of the past work on measuring the isotopic composition of Fe has focused on determining
60Fe variations due to processes accompanying nucleosynthesis (i.e., meteorite studies) and ore
formation. In the last decade however, advances in mass spectrometry technology have allowed the
detection and quantification of minute, naturally occurring variations in the ratios of the stable
isotopes of iron. Much of this work has been driven by the Earth and planetary science communities,
although applications to biological and industrial systems are beginning to emerge.
The most abundant iron isotope 56Fe is of particular interest to nuclear scientists as it represents the
most common endpoint of nucleosynthesis. It is often cited, falsely, as the isotope of highest binding
energy, a distinction which actually belongs to Nickel-62.[12] Since 56Ni is easily produced from

lighter nuclei in the alpha process in nuclear reactions in supernovae (see silicon burning process),
nickel-56 (14 alpha particles) is the endpoint of fusion chains inside extremely massive stars, since
addition of another alpha particle would result in zinc-60, which requires a great deal more energy.
This nickel-56, which has a half-life of about 6 days, is therefore made in quantity in these stars, but
soon decays by two successive positron emissions within supernova decay products in the
supernova remnant gas cloud, to first radioactive cobalt-56, and then stable iron-56. This last nuclide
is therefore common in the universe, relative to other stable metals of approximately the same
atomic weight.
Nucleosynthesis
Iron is created by extremely large, extremely hot (over 2.5 billion kelvin) stars, through a process
called the silicon burning process. It is the heaviest stable element to be produced in this manner.
The process starts with the second largest stable nucleus created by silicon burning: calcium. One
stable nucleus of calcium fuses with one helium nucleus, creating unstable titanium. Before the
titanium decays, it can fuse with another helium nucleus, creating unstable chromium. Before the
chromium decays, it can fuse with another helium nucleus, creating unstable iron. Before the iron
decays, it can fuse with another helium nucleus, creating unstable nickel-56. Any further fusion of
nickel-56 consumes energy instead of producing energy, so after the production of nickel-56, the star
does not produce the energy necessary to keep the core from collapsing. Eventually, the nickel-56
decays to unstable cobalt-56 which, in turn decays to stable iron-56 When the core of the star
collapses, it creates a Supernova. Supernovas also create additional forms of stable iron via the rprocess.

History
June 5th, 2012 by Brad
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Wrought iron
Iron objects of great age are much rarer than objects made of gold or silver due to the ease of
corrosion of iron. Beads made of meteoric iron in 3500 B.C. or earlier were found in Gerzah, Egypt
by G. A. Wainwright. The beads contain 7.5% nickel, which is a signature of meteoric origin since
iron found in the Earths crust has very little to no nickel content. Meteoric iron was highly regarded
due to its origin in the heavens and was often used to forge weapons and tools or whole specimens
placed in churches. Items that were likely made of iron by Egyptians date from 2500 to 3000 BC.
Iron had a distinct advantage over bronze in warfare implements. It was much harder and more
durable than bronze, although susceptible to rust. However, this is contested. Hittitologist Trevor
Bryce argues that before advanced iron-working techniques were developed in Europe and India,
cast-iron weapons used by early Mesopotamian armies had a tendency to shatter in combat, due to
their high carbon content.
The 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 2700 and 3000 BC. The Hittites appear to be the first
to understand the production of iron from its ores and regard it highly in their society. They 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. Iron smelting, and thus the Iron
Age, reached Europe two hundred years later and arrived in Zimbabwe, Africa by the 8th century.
Cast iron

Cast iron was first produced in China about 550 BC, but was hardly in Europe until the medieval
period. 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.In 1709,
Abraham Darby I established a coke-fired blast furnace to produce cast iron. 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 wasnt 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.
Steel
Steel (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 Iran were making good steel by
1000 BC. Then improved versions, Wootz steel by India and Damascus steel by China were
developed around 300 B.C. and 500 A.D. 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 AD. 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.

History and Growth of Iron metal

July 17th, 2012 by tinaroth
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From the first transition series iron metal is the most common element forming Earths outer and
inner core. In Earths outer core it is the fourth most common element. Iron is created from the

extremely hot and large stars thought silicon burning process. In this burning process, Iron is the
heaviest stable metal created from the calcium nucleus.
From all available elements in the universe, Iron is the sixth most abundant. Its really tough to find
Metallic iron on the surface of the earth because of its oxidizing nature. Most of the iron in the crust
is found combined with oxygen as iron oxide minerals such as hematite and magnetite. Most of the
irons are found in bound iron formations.
Iron objects last longer than objects made of silver and gold. From the ancient civilization, iron
objects are of great use. Even in today, beads of meteoric iron from 3500 BC or earlier is found in
Egypt, Gerzah. Meteoric iron was considered as originated from heavens and used to made
weapons or tools by the ancient church. Before the advanced iron-working techniques cast-iron was
used to created weapons.
Around 550 BC cast-iron was produced in China but was unavailable in Europe until medieval
period. In the medieval period, Europeans produced wrought iron from cast-iron. In this procedure,
charcoal was the fuel. Through the passage of time iron has become cheaper and plentiful. In the
year 1778, the first iron bridge was built.
Another implementation of iron metal is steel. Steel was first ever produced in antiquity by using a
bloomer. Around 1000 BC, blacksmiths in Luristan of western Iraq made good steel. India and
Damascus developed the improved version of steel around 300 BC. Steel was developed in China in
500 BC. Steel producing methods were specialized and it has become a major commodity in the
later 1850s.

Iron: Health and Environment Effects

August 15th, 2012 by tinaroth
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Iron is the tenth most abundant element in the universe. But from micro-organisms to human iron is
most essential to survive. Every year around 500 million tons iron is being produced. It adds around
300 million tons more when we count the recycled iron. China, Australia, Ukraine, Russia and Brazil
are the main mining areas for iron. Every year more than 100 billion tons economically reserves iron
ores exceed 100 billion tons.
Though iron is one of the top abundant metals but the effect of iron is undeniable. Potatoes,
vegetables, whole meal products and even meat contain iron. Human body can easily absorb iron

from meal products rather than from plant products. To run human body actively, we need to
transport oxygen through our body. Hemoglobin, the red agent of our blood does this transportation.
Iron is the most essential part of hemoglobin.
But iron is the reason for retinitis, conjunctivitis and choroditis. Siderosis, a benign pneumoconiosis
develops for inhalation in excessive iron oxide fumes or dusts. Also, excessive inhalation is iron
oxide fumes increases the chance of lung cancer. Anaemia, a more common problem for humans is
caused by iron. Any adult male needs 7 mg and female needs 11 mg daily. A proper diet usually
serves the amount but if it isnt sufficient then iron pill must be taken after consulting with doctors.
Iron isnt only essential for human body. Excessive iron attachment caused serious hazards. Also,
iron does a negative impact on environment we live. Iron (III)-O-arsenite caused great problem on
environment. Iron (III)-O- Pentahydrate is also hazardous. When iron containing chemicals enter into
the environment they persists and most of the time affects the eco-balance and caused various
health problems. Factories and industries must be strongly advised to not let the iron containing
chemicals enter into the environment.

Iron Metals Properties and Works

September 12th, 2012 by tinaroth
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Iron is actually a bright, shiny and white soft metal that can be easily mulled. But normally its surface
is discolored by corrosion. In the presence of moisture, iron combines readily with oxygen in the air.
It is found in nature as the metal only in meteorites and in very rare circumstances where iron
minerals have been reduced by environmental factors. In practice iron usually is obtained from ores
which contains oxides, occasionally carbonate and sulphur and phosphorus as low as possible.
Iron comes with atomic number 26 and atomic weight 55.85. Iron is in the middle of transition metals
of the periodic table. Iron remains in ferrite or -iron from in room temperature. The density of bodycentered cubic structure -iron is 7.86 g/cc but at 910C it turns to face-centered cubic -iron. Iron
melts at 1535C and to boil it needs 3000C. The thermal conductivity of iron is 3.37 and their
electrical resistivity is 9.71.
Iron metal is very good at electricity and heat conduction. Iron makes most useful alloys with cobalt
and nickel and three of them contain so much common in physical properties. Iron occurs as the
cations Fe++, ferrous iron, and Fe+++, ferric iron. Iron is a very good reducing agent because of its
atomic structure and electron giving nature.

Usually irons oxides are ferrous oxide, FeO and ferric oxide, Fe2O3. Ferrous oxide is presented as
Fe3O4 which comes as a hard black substance and an important ore of iron, magnetite.
Iron compounds can be different in colors like ferrous ion is greenish in solution and ferric ion is light
violet. The d-electrons interact with light in interesting way and display different colors in different
situations.
Iron is the best metal for weapons and tools building. Iron also does the important works of our body
ferromagnetism and oxygen transport in the blood.

Iron Metal: Outstanding Industrial Applications

and Easy Use Nature
December 4th, 2012 by tinaroth
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Iron is one of the most useful metals in the history of earth. It is the fourth common element in the
earth. From the very begging of the civilization iron is being used in most of the sector of our life. Iron
forms the inner core of our beloved earth. At the starting we used iron to build shelter or hunt our
food. With the passage of time civilization developed so did the purpose and use of iron.
Now-a-days, experts are mixing different chemicals with iron and increasing the application of it.
Carbon is being added with iron to change its properties. Carbon is one of the hard substances and
depending on the amount its become much stronger when added with iron. Pure iron is relatively
soft but when added with carbon we find stronger steel.
With the low combination of carbon with iron we find steels.
Low carbon steels are used in joists in building construction, wire, nails and body panels for
automobiles. The construction for these steels consumes low cost and they adapts easily for good
reason. Whenever we intend to build anything we need to use wire and nails. Low carbon steels
come with ductility which provides the opportunity of easy manipulation and reparability.
We can use medium carbon steels when theres a need of more strength and less ductility. We can
apply these steels in farm equipment, engine components, gears, and structural fixtures. Engine
components and farm equipments need to be strong and durable but less brittle. Medium carbon
steel is the perfect substance for this process.

Medium carbon combination with iron provides enough strength and durability for structural fixtures.
It can hold up to many cycles of stress and strain. The industrial applications of iron metal is
increasing day by day and the outstanding properties of this metal.

Cognitive and Behavioral Problems can be

reduced by Iron Supplements
December 15th, 2012 by tinaroth
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Iron is an important element to ensure the earths placement and sustainability. Its the 4th most
common element in the earth. Not only the structure of earths inner core has iron as an important
element but also in human body structure and growth iron plays a significant role. Underweight
babies who born with iron deficiency face problems in developing cognitive and also they suffer in
behavioral problems.
In a recent statement, experts have unveiled the problems of iron deficiency in the human body.
Researchers showed that proper diets with iron can reduce the problem. They have compared with
babies who are dieted properly and arent and showed the results. Babies with proper diet prevent
developments problems and almost grow up as normal babies.
Head of pediatrics and Umea University in Sweden, Magnus Domellof showed the under weight
babies look normal but 30 percent of them are iron deficient at six months and 10 percent of them
develop a condition called iron-deficient anemia.
With the passage of time, these babies get older and their iron deficiency lead to behavioral
problems like attention problems, anxiety and depression, compared to babies treated with iron
supplements.
The expert team worked with 285 newborns, were under weight at their birth time. They gave the
babies iron drops daily for six months. Another 90 new born under weight babies were given sugar
water drops without iron.
After three years, the team find out only three percent from 295 newborns displayed behavioral and
cognitive problems but from the other 90 babies around 13 percent displayed the problems.

Though the study was between a small number of babies but they demand that it represents the
whole scenario. If under weight babies arent dieted properly with iron theres chance of displaying
behavioral problems in future.

Shortcomings, Application and Using

Approach of Iron Metal
January 7th, 2013 by tinaroth
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Often iron metal is known as the metal that is used to build weapon and tools. It comes with ability
by means of alloys and heat treatment. As a result it suits easily as primary metal to almost every
application of technology. In here, well discuss about using approaches, application and
shortcomings of this metal.
Usually we all are familiar with the use of iron metal in our daily life. It comes as covered with
protective coating or buried deep within any object. Whatever we need a concrete structure,
electrical machines or transformers mostly depend on iron. Automobiles have become an essential
part of our daily life which depends largely on iron. The list will be a long one if all of the application
of iron is included.
Cost efficiency, strong, tough, easily formed and worked nature has made it preferable than other
alternatives. Plastics can be competitive in some terms where cost efficiency is the main concern
rather than durability and strength but in all means theres no other metal which can be comparable
with iron.
The main lacking of this metal is its weight and propensity to rust. Aluminum and plastics can be
used to easily avoid it. But the advantages of iron are so great that these considerations prevail only
in limited fields of application. Iron in collaboration with cobalt and nickel is known as iron family.
The remarkable property of the iron family for which there is no substitute at an equivalent cost is
that they can be induced to provide a strong magnetic field with only small excitation by an electric
current. Also, iron plays important role as a carrier of oxygen in blood. Iron metal is easy to find and
use in different aspects of our life.

THE MIRACLE OF IRON

Iron is one of the elements highlighted in the Qur'an. In Surat al-Hadid, meaning Iron, we are
informed:

And We also sent down iron in which there lies great force and which has many uses for
mankind (Qur'an, 57:25)

Iron ingot

The word "anzalna," translated as "sent down" and used for iron in the verse,
could be thought of having a metaphorical meaning to explain that iron has
been given to benefit people. But, when we take into consideration the literal
meaning of the word, which is, "being physically sent down from the sky," as
in the case of rain and Sun rays, we realize that this verse implies a very
significant scientific miracle. Because, modern astronomical findings have
disclosed that the iron found in our world has come from giant stars in outer
space.38

Not only the iron on earth, but also the iron in the entire Solar System,
comes from outer space, since the temperature in the Sun is inadequate for the formation of iron. The
sun has a surface temperature of 6,000 degrees Celsius, and a core temperature of approximately 20
million degrees. Iron can only be produced in much larger stars than the Sun, where the temperature
reaches a few hundred million degrees. When the amount of iron exceeds a certain level in a star, the
star can no longer accommodate it, and it eventually explodes in what is called a "nova" or a
"supernova." These explosions make it possible for iron to be given off into space. 39
One scientific source provides the
following information on this subject:
There is also evidence for older supernova
events: Enhanced levels of iron-60 in
deep-sea
sediments
have
been
interpreted
as
indications
that
a
supernova explosion occurred within 90
light-years of the sun about 5 million
years ago. Iron-60 is a radioactive isotope
of iron, formed in supernova explosions,
which decays with a half life of 1.5 million
years. An enhanced presence of this
isotope in a geologic layer indicates
the
recent
nucleosynthesis
of
elements nearby in space and their
subsequent transport to the earth
(perhaps as part of dust grains).40

Surat al-Hadid is the 57th in the Quran. The numerical value of the
word al-Hadid in Arabic is 57. The numerical value of hadid on its
own is 26. As can be seen from the periodic table to the side, 26 is the
number of the iron atom. With the verse revealed in Surat al-Hadid
Almighty Allah indicates how iron formed, and with the mathematical
code contained in the verse He reveals to us a scientific miracle.

All this shows that iron did not form on

the Earth, but was carried from
Supernovas, and was "sent down," as
stated in the verse. It is clear that this
fact could not have been known in the 7 th century, when the Qur'an was revealed. Nevertheless, this
fact is related in the Qur'an, the Word of Allah, Who encompasses all things in His infinite knowledge.
Astronomy has also revealed that other elements also formed outside the Earth. In the expression
"We also sent down iron" in the verse, the word "also" may well be referring to that idea. However,
the fact that the verse specifically mentions iron is quite astounding, considering that these
discoveries were made at the end of the 20 th century. In his book Nature's Destiny, the well-known
microbiologist Michael Denton emphasizes the importance of iron:
Of all the metals there is none more essential to life than iron. It is the accumulation of iron
in the center of a star which triggers a supernova explosion and the subsequent scattering

of the vital atoms of life throughout the cosmos. It was the drawing by gravity of iron atoms to
the center of the primeval earth that generated the heat which caused the initial chemical
differentiation of the earth, the outgassing of the early atmosphere, and ultimately the formation of
the hydrosphere. It is molten iron in the center of the earth which, acting like a gigantic dynamo,
generates the earth's magnetic field, which in turn creates the Van Allen radiation belts that shield the
earth's surface from destructive high-energy-penetrating cosmic radiation and preserve the crucial
ozone layer from cosmic ray destruction
Without the iron atom, there would be no carbon-based life in the cosmos; no supernovae, no
heating of the primitive earth, no atmosphere or hydrosphere. There would be no protective magnetic
field, no Van Allen radiation belts, no ozone layer, no metal to make hemoglobin [in human blood], no
metal to tame the reactivity of oxygen, and no oxidative metabolism.
The intriguing and intimate relationship between life and iron, between the red color of blood and the
dying of some distant star, not only indicates the relevance of metals to biology but also the
biocentricity of the cosmos41
This account clearly indicates the importance of the iron atom. The fact that particular attention is
drawn to iron in the Qur'an also emphasises the importance of the element. In addition, there is
another hidden truth in the Qur'an which draws attention to the importance of iron: Surat al-Hadid 25,
which refers to iron, contains two rather interesting mathematical codes.
"Al- Hadid" is the 57th sura in the Qur'an. The abjad of the word "Al-Hadid" in Arabic, when the
numerological values of its letters are added up, is also 57. (For abjad calculations see the section on
Numerological Calculations (Abjad) in the Qur'an.)
The numerological value of the word "hadid" alone is 26. And 26 is the atomic number of iron.
Moreover, iron oxide particles were used in a cancer treatment in recent months and positive
developments were observed. A team led by Dr. Andreas Jordan, at the world famous Charit Hospital
in Germany, succeeded in destroying cancer cells with this new technique developed for the treatment
of cancer-magnetic fluid hyperthermia (high temperature magnetic liquid). As a result of this
technique, first performed on the 26-year-old Nikolaus H., no new cancer cells were observed in the
patient in the following three months.
This method of treatment can be summarised as follows:
1. A liquid containing iron oxide particles is injected into the tumour by means of a special syringe.
These particles spread throughout the tumour cells. This liquid consists of thousands of millions of
particles, 1,000 times smaller than the red blood corpuscles, of iron oxide in 1 cm3 that can easily
flow through all blood vessels. 42
2. The patient is then placed in a machine with a powerful magnetic field.
3. This magnetic field, applied externally, begins to set the iron particles in the tumour in motion.
During this time the temperature in the tumour containing the iron oxide particles rises by up to 45
degrees.
In a few minutes the cancer cells, unable to protect themselves from the heat, are either weakened or
destroyed. The tumour may then be completely eradicated with subsequent chemotherapy.43
In this treatment it is only the cancer cells that are affected by the magnetic field, since only they
contain the iron oxide particles. The spread of this technique is a major development in the treatment
of this potentially lethal disease. In the treatment of such a widespread disease as cancer, the use of
the expression "iron in which there lies great force and which has many uses for mankind"

(Qur'an, 57:25) in the Qur'an is particularly noteworthy. Indeed, in that verse, the Qur'an may be
indicating the benefits of iron for human health. (Allah knows best.)

38. Kazi, 130 Evident Miracles in the Quran, 110-111; and www.wamy.co.uk/announcements3.html, from Prof. Zighloul Raghib ElNaggars speech
39. Ibid.
40. Priscilla Frisch, The Galactic Environment of the Sun, American Scientist, January-February 2000,
www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/21173?fulltext=true.
41. Michael J. Denton, Natures Destiny (The Free Press: 1998), 198.
42. www.inm-gmbh.de/cgi-bin/frame/frameloader.pl?sprache=en&url=http://www.inmgmbh.de/htdocs/technologien/highlights/highlights_en.htm.
43. "Nanotechnology successfully helps cancer therapies," IIC Fast Track, Nanotech News from Eastern Germany, Industrial
Investment Council, October 2003; www.iic.de/uploads/media/NANO_FT_Nov2003_01.pdf

Role of Iron in the Body

Iron is an essential element for most life on Earth, including human beings.
Iron is needed for a number of highly complex processes that continuously take place on a molecular level and that
are indispensable to human life, e.g. the transportation of oxygen around your body!
Iron is required for the production of red blood cells (a process known as haematopoiesis), but it's also part of
haemoglobin (that is the pigment of the red blood cells) binding to the oxygen and thus facilitating its transport from
the lungs via the arteries to all cells throughout the body.
Once the oxygen is delivered the iron (as part of haemoglobin) binds the carbon dioxide which is then transported
back to the lung from where it gets exhaled.
Iron is also involved in the conversion of blood sugar to energy. Metabolic energy is crucial for athletes since it allows
muscles to work at their optimum during exercise or when competing.
The production of enzymes (which play a vital role in the production of new cells, amino acids, hormones and
neurotransmitters) also depends on iron, this aspect becomes crucial during the recovery process from illnesses or
following strenuous exercise or competing.
The immune system is dependent on iron for its efficient functioning and physical and mental growth require sufficient
iron levels, particularly important in childhood and pregnancy, where the developing baby solely depends on its
mother's iron supplies.
Iron is lost by the body through a variety of ways including urination, defecation, sweating, and exfoliating of old skin
cells. Bleeding contributes to further loss of iron which is why women have a higher demand for iron than men.

If iron stores are low, normal haemoglobin production slows down, which means the transport of oxygen is
diminished, resulting in symptoms such as fatigue, dizziness, lowered immunity or reduced ability for athletes to keep
up with their training programs.
Since our bodies cant produce iron itself, we need to make sure we consume sufficient amounts of iron as part of our
daily diet.
Spatone, natural liquid iron supplement can provide your bodys daily absorbed iron needs whilst being extra gentle
on the stomach.

Supernova
By scientific standards, the formation of iron is one of the most violent
processes imaginable. A type of star known as a red giant begins to turn all
of its helium into carbon and oxygen atoms. Those atoms then begin to turn
into iron atoms, the heaviest type of atom star can produce. When most of a
star's atoms become iron atoms, the star becomes what is known as a
supernova. It explodes, showering space with iron, oxygen and carbon atoms
far and wide.
From here, gravity takes over, forming the atoms into planets such as Earth.

rwittich/iStock/Getty
Images

Earth's Main Building Block

Born of these violent explosions, Earth's core is likely mostly molten iron, and
its crust is estimated to be about 10 percent iron. The life on Earth also

contains iron, from plants to humans. The abundant metal is truly one of
Earth's essential building blocks.

Purestock/Purestock/G
etty Images

Iron From Meteorites

Not all iron on the Earth's surface got here with its initial planetary formation.
Massive chunks of rock known as asteroids have broken apart throughout the
history of our solar system, sometimes through collisions with other
asteroids, showering down smaller chunks of rock. The meteorite fragments
that came into Earth's atmosphere, and did not burn up in the intense heat,
brought more iron to the planet's surface.

andyKRAKOVSKI/iStoc
k/Getty Images

Iron and Mankind

Though it has been an essential part of Earth since the planet's inception,
humans did not begin producing iron into usable implements and products
until about 2000 B.C. The historic period known as the Iron Age began in
south-central Asia, replacing what had been the key metal, bronze.
Civilizations learned that iron, when mixed with carbon, is more durable than
bronze. Iron weapons also hold a sharper edge.

Hemera
Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images

Ancestor of Steel

Iron continued as the key metal fabric in human civilization until the 1850s,
when innovators began to learn that if a bit more carbon was added to iron
during the production process, a durable yet flexible metal resulted. By the
1870s, production innovations would make this new metal alloy called steel
more economically viable to mass produce. The demand for steel
skyrocketed during the railroad boom of the 1800s, as the metal made an
ideal material for rail production.

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/about_5371252_origin-iron.html

Facts About Iron

by Agata Blaszczak-Boxe, Contributing Writer | January 06, 2015 08:16pm ET

84
52
57
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40
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Iron ore oxidizes, or rusts, when it comes in contact with oxygen.

Credit: Denis Selivanov | Shutterstock
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From being a crucial building block of steel to nourishing plants and helping carry oxygen in
your blood iron is always busy helping sustain life on Earth.
Iron is a brittle, hard substance, classified as a metal in Group 8 on the Periodic Table of the
Elements. The most abundant of all metals, its pure form rapidly corrodes from exposure to
moist air and high temperatures. Iron is also the fourth most common element in Earths crust by
weight and much of Earths core is thought to be composed of iron. Besides being commonly
found on Earth, it is abundant in the sun and stars, according to the Los Alamos National
Laboratory. Iron is crucial to the survival of living organisms, according to Jefferson Lab. In
plants, it plays a role in the production of chlorophyll. In animals, it is a component of
hemoglobin a protein in blood that carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissues in the body.
Ninety percent of all metal that is refined these days is iron, according to the Royal Society of
Chemistry. Most of it is used to make steel an alloy of iron and carbon which is in turn
used in manufacturing and civil engineering, for instance, to make reinforced concrete. Stainless
steel, which contains at least 10.5 percent chromium, is highly resistant to corrosion. It is used in
kitchen cutlery, appliances and cookware such as stainless steel pans and skillets. The addition of
other elements can provide steel with other useful qualities. For instance, nickel increases its

durability and makes it more resistant to heat and acids; manganese makes it more durable,
whereas tungsten helps it maintain hardness at high temperatures, according to Jefferson Lab.

Just the facts

Atomic number (number of protons in the nucleus): 26

Atomic symbol (on the Periodic Table of Elements): Fe

Atomic weight (average mass of the atom): 55.845

Density: 7.874 grams per cubic centimeter

Phase at room temperature: Solid

Melting point: 2,800.4 degrees Fahrenheit (1,538 degrees Celsius)

Boiling point: 5,181.8 F (2,861 C)

Number of isotopes (atoms of the same element with a different number of

neutrons): (include how many are stable isotopes): 33 Stable isotopes: 4

Most common isotopes: Iron-56 (natural abundance: 91.754 percent)

History and properties of iron

Archeologists estimate that people have been using iron for more than 5,000 years, according to
Jefferson Lab. In fact, it turns out that some of the most ancient iron known to humans literally
fell from the sky. In a study published in 2013 in the Journal of Archeological Science,
researchers examined ancient Egyptian iron beads that date to around 3200 B.C. and found that
they were made from iron meteorites. The Old Testament in the Bible also mentions iron
multiple times, according to Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Iron is mostly obtained from minerals hematite and magnetite. In smaller degrees, it can also be
obtained from the minerals taconite, limonite and siderite, according to Jefferson Lab. Iron has
four different allotropic forms, which means that it has four different structural forms in which
atoms bond in different patterns, according to Los Alamos National Laboratory. Those forms are
called ferrites, known as alpha (which is magnetic), beta, gamma and omega.
Iron is an important nutrient in our diet. Iron deficiency, the most common nutritional deficiency,
can cause anemia and fatigue that affects the ability to perform physical work in adults. It can
also cause impair memory or other mental function in teens, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Women who have iron deficiency while pregnant are at an increased risk
of having small and early babies, the CDC warns.
There are two types of dietary iron: heme iron and non-heme iron. Heme iron which is the
more readily absorbed type of iron is found in meat, fish and poultry, whereas non-heme iron
which is also absorbed but to a lesser extent than heme iron is found in both plant foods

(such as spinach, kale and broccoli) and meat, according to the American Red Cross. People
absorb up to 30 percent of heme iron, compared with 2-10 percent of non-heme iron, the ARC
reports, adding that foods rich in vitamin C such as tomatoes or citrus fruits can help absorb
people absorb non-heme iron.

Credit: Greg Robson/Creative Commons, Andrei Marincas | Shutterstock

View full size image

Who knew?

If you ever wondered why blood is red, you may want to know that iron has in
fact a lot to do with its color. The red hue of blood cells comes from the
interaction between iron and oxygen, according to the University of
California, Santa Barbara. The blood looks red because of the way in which
the chemical bonds between the two elements reflect light.

Pure iron is actually soft and malleable, according to the University of Denver.

Iron is the fourth most abundant chemical element in Earth's crust at 4.6
percent.

In 2007, researchers discovered a huge plume of iron-rich water emanating

from hydrothermal vents in the southern Atlantic Ocean.

Iron is necessary for the growth of phytoplankton tiny marine bacteria that
use carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to fuel photosynthesis. Some
researchers have therefore argued that fertilizing the oceans with extra iron

could help suck up excess carbon dioxide. But a study published online in
November 2010 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
found that this might not be such a good idea, as all this extra iron could
actually trigger the growth of toxin-producing algae that contribute to the
contamination of marine wildlife.

About 90 percent of all metal that is refined today is iron, according to the
Royal Society of Chemistry.

Iron is a crucial component of a meteorite class known as siderites, according

to Los Alamos National Laboratory.

An iron pillar dating to about 400 A.D. still stands today in Delhi, India,
according to Los Alamos National Laboratory. The pillar is about 23.75 feet
(7.25 meters) high and measures 15.75 inches (40 centimeters) in diameter.
Despite being exposed to weather conditions, the pillar has not corroded
much due to its unique composition of metals.

Examples of iron-rich foods include meat, including beef, turkey, chicken and
pork; seafood, including shrimp, clams, oysters and tuna; vegetables,
including spinach, peas, broccoli, sweet potatoes and string beans; bread and
cereals, including bran cereals, whole wheat bread and enriched rice; other
foods, including beans, lentils, tomato paste, tofu and molasses, according to
the American Red Cross.

Current research
Iron has been the subject of numerous medical studies, some of which show that high levels of
iron in the blood may in fact be linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular problems. "There is
some research suggesting that people who have more ferritin in their blood system and markers
of higher iron in the body may be more at risk in terms of some cardiovascular diseases," said
Judith Wylie-Rosett, a professor at the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health and
the Department of Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in
New York. "And whether that's causing the risk or that's a biomarker for something else going on
is unclear," Wylie-Rosett told Live Science. (Ferritin is a type of protein that stores iron, while
the ferritin test measures the amount of iron in your blood.)
In a study of more than 1,900 Finnish men ages 42 to 60 years, published in 1992 published in
the journal Circulation, researchers found a link between high levels of iron and increased risk of
heart attack. In a more recent study, published online in January 2014 in the Journal of Nutrition,
researchers found that heme iron, found in meat, increased the risk for coronary heart disease by
57 percent, but no such association was found between non-heme iron and coronary heart disease
risk.
Interestingly, recent research has also linked the accumulation of iron in the brain to Alzheimer's
disease. In a study published in August 2013 in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, researchers
found that the amount of iron in the hippocampus an area of the brain associated with the
formation of memories was increased and associated with tissue damage in the hippocampus
area in people with Alzheimer's disease, but not in healthy older people.

"The accumulation of iron in the brain may be influenced by modifying environmental factors,
such as how much red meat and iron dietary supplements we consume and, in women, having
hysterectomies before menopause," study author Dr. George Bartzokis, a professor of psychiatry
at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, said in a statement.

Quranic Viewpoint about the Origin of Iron

By:
Mahdi
La'li,
Tehran,
Iran
Iron was known in prehistoric times and the most known metal for human today. Undoubtedly,
iron played a key role in the development of civilization and no one can deny it. The human has
used iron in most of his life aspects since the incipient eras. Indeed, life in many ways has always
depended on the existence of iron. It was utilized in hunting tools, cooking utensils, war devices
etc.
Usually, it was a new invention or a new technology, which allowed a nation to conquer an empire.
Iron is much harder than bronze, so when the knowledge of how to make iron tools and weapons
spread from the Middle East, it led to a new round of wars and invasions. At this time, about 3000
years ago, men learned to ride on horseback. They became expert warriors, able to fire arrows
from a charging horse. Horse-riding nomads left the steppe, causing more migrations and wars.
The Christian Bibles first book Genesis says that Tubal-Cain, seven generations from Adam, was
"an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron." Smelted iron artifacts have been identified from
around 3000 BC. A remarkable iron pillar, dating to about 400 AD, remains standing today in Delhi,
India. This solid pillar is wrought iron and about 7.5 m high by 40 cm in diameter. Corrosion to the
pillar has been minimal despite its exposure to the weather since its erection.
The
Ancient
Finnish
Myths
about
the
Iron
In the Origin of the Iron, we are returned to the Beginning of all, to the primeval fountain in the
center of the Cosmos. There the molten iron was originated in the breasts of three maidens, the
Maidens of Iron. They stood on a Nameless Meadow, on a Borderless Field, which is in the
dreamtime without names, places, and events. The maidens yielded milk, which transformed into
molten
iron
and
steel.
This same theme of maidens (or a goddess or a cow or a she-goat) at the fountain in the center of
the primitive world (Paradise) is repeated in the myths all over the world, also in the Genesis.
From the Fountain of Life there originated four rivers of water or milk, which often were depicted
as four maidens. These rivers carried life, and the iron, all over the world.
According to this Finnish myth, when dealing with a wound made by an iron blade by his
incantations the sorcerer makes it known to the victim and also to the weapon that he is aware of
the origin of the iron and so is able to control 1.
What
is
the
origin
of
Iron?
The matter of fact is that the main element of all the heavenly bodies including stars, red giants,
super red giants, white dwarfs, supernova, interstellar galactic materials etc, are all made up of
iron. (For more information, you can refer to the article Death of the Universe).
The scientists believe that iron is an extraterrestrial element that was sent to earth and not formed
therein. The energy of the early solar system was not sufficient to produce elemental Iron.
The core of our earth consists mainly of iron 90% and nickel along with silicon, sulfur and heavy
elements. Recent evidence indicates the core may be as hot at 6,600C or 12,000F at it center,
hotter than the surface of the sun! The tremendous pressure at this depth keeps the white-hot
inner core solid. Isolated from the mantle by the liquid outer core, the inner core spins faster than

the rest of the planet, gaining a full turn in about 300 years. This differential is the cause of the
earths magnetic field. (Garrison, 1999, p. 54-55.) Essential during the formation of the earth the
iron was placed deep within our Earth and the subsequent cooling formed the crust 2.
Scientists have only recently discovered the relevant facts about the irons formation process.
However, the verse 25 of chapter 57 Chapter of Iron states that the iron is sent down from the
heavens
for
the
benefit
of
humankind:
-And We sent down iron, wherein is great might, and many uses for men 3. Chapter57: verse25
To perceive the inspiration in this wonderful Quranic statement, the reference must be made to
the recently discovered scientific facts.
Scientific
Viewpoint
Iron is a type of atom, which was created in red giant stars. Iron atoms as stated above are
believed to be common and of intense combinations at the center of the Earth. From the AngloSaxon word "iron" (the origin of the symbol Fe comes from the Latin word "ferrum"), which
means,
"iron".
Basic
Information:
Name:
Iron
Symbol:
Fe
Atomic
Number:
26
Atomic
Mass:
55.845
amu
Melting
Point:
1535.0
C
(1808.15
K,
2795.0
F)
Boiling
Point:
2750.0
C
(3023.15
K,
4982.0
F)
Number
of
Protons/Electrons:
26
Number
of
Neutrons:
30
Classification:
Transition
Metal
Crystal
Structure:
Cubic
Density
@
293
K:
7.86
g/cm3
Color:
Silvery
Atomic
Structure:
Number
of
Energy
Levels:
4
First
Energy
Level:
2
Second
Energy
Level:
8
Third
Energy
Level:
14
Fourth
Energy
Level:
2
Facts:
Date
of
Discovery:
Known
to
the
ancients
Discoverer:
Unknown
Name
Origin:
Latin
Symbol
Origin:
From
the
Latin
word
ferrum
(iron)
Use:
steel,
hemoglobin
(carries
oxygen
in
blood)
Obtained
From:
iron
ores
Isotopes:
Isotope
Half
Life
Fe8.3
hours
Fe-54
Stable
Fe-55
2.7
years
Fe-56
Stable
Fe-57
Stable
Fe-58
Stable

Fe-59
Fe-60 1500000.0 years 4

54.5

days

Quranic
Viewpoint
The Quran informs us that Iron was actually descended from the sky and only came to form part
of the Earth's makeup. After speaking of descent, this is to say that it is a principal component of
a meteorite class known as siderites and is a minor constituent of the other two meteorite classes
as
science
today
explains
in
the
link
mentioned
above.
It is also an interesting fact that this verse is in chapter 57, which represents the atomic weight
(not the avg. atomic weight but a stable middle isotope). The verse, which mentions the Iron, is
number 25 and the total number of verses of this chapter is 29 thus four (04) remaining verses to
end
this
magnificent
chapter.
Also the number of neutrons 30 - 04 = gives 26 which is the atomic number of iron and the number
of
its
protons.
Sheik Abdul Majid Zendani, a professor of Islamic studies in king Abdulaziz University in Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia says about his meeting with the professor Armstrong. Professor Armstrong works at
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), where he is a well-known scientist
there. He was asked a number of questions about the Quranic verses dealing with the expertise in
Astronomy and iron in particular and how it was formed. He explained how all the elements in the
earth formed. He stated that the scientists have come only recently to discover the relevant facts
about that formation process. He said that the energy of the early solar system was not sufficient
to
produce
elemental
Iron.
In calculating the energy required to form one atom of iron, it was found to be about four times as
much as the energy of the entire solar system. In other words, the entire energy of the earth or the
moon or the planet Mars or any other planet is not sufficient to form one new atom of iron, even
the energy of the entire solar system is not sufficient for that. That is why Professor Armstrong
said that the scientists believe that iron is extraterrestrial that was sent to earth and not formed
therein. Sheik Abdul Majid Zendani says: We read to him the Quranic verse saying:
-And we sent down Iron, in which is Great might, as well as many benefits for mankind.
Chapter57:
verse25
Each time Professor Armstrong related a scientific fact, it was mentioned to him the relevant
verse, which he agreed with. It was then presented to him: You have seen and discovered for
yourself the true nature of modern Astronomy by means of modern equipment, rockets, and space
ships, developed by man. You have also seen how the Quran 14 centuries ago mentioned the
same
facts,
so
what
is
your
opinion
about
these?
He replied, That is a difficult question, which I have been thinking about since our discussions
here. I am impressed that how remarkably some of the ancient writings seem to correspond to
modern
and
recent
Astronomy
5.
Surely the information contained within the Holy Quran baffles even the greatest minds of our
time, because this truth transcends mans comprehension at the time it was revealed and surely
its
miracle
is
obvious
even
to
nonbelievers.
References
1.
The
Iron,
at
http://www.geocities.com/.
2. Oceanography, Garrison, Tom, 3rd edition, Wadsworth Publishing, Belmont CA, 1999 or http:
www.g3oceanography.com.
3. Holy Quran translated by Arthur J. Arberry, Ansarian Publication, Qom, the Islamic Republic of
Iran,
1993.
4.
Periodic
Table:
Iron,
at
http://www.chemicalelements.com/.
5. Formation of Iron, http://www.beconvinced.com/.

IRON METEORITES
THE HEARTS OF LONG-VANISHED ASTEROIDS
The sixth in a series of articles by Geoffrey Notkin, Aerolite Meteorites

In the second episode of Meteorwritings, "Meteorite Types and Classification," we reviewed the three main types of
meteorites - irons, stones, and stony-irons. This month, and in the next two installments, we will take a much more
detailed look at these classes, discuss how they were formed, what is unique about them, and also examine some
well known examples of each type.

Where Do Iron Meteorites Come From?

In the classic 1959 adventure film, Journey to the Center of the Earth, based on Jules Verne's wonderful book
Voyage au Centre de la Trre, a team of explorers lead by a very proper and resourceful James Mason encounter
giant reptiles, vast underground caverns, oceans and the remains of lost civilizations in a subterranean world hidden
far beneath our planet's crust. If we actually could make such a journey to the Earth's center, our real-life adventure
would be a rather short one, as the core of our planet is a sphere of molten iron with a temperature in excess of
4,000C. The world imagined by Verne makes for a more exciting film, but without molten planetary cores we would
not have iron meteorites.

Astronomers believe that in the early days of our Solar System, more than four billion
years ago, all of the inner planets had molten cores. As our Earth is the largest of the
Terrestrial planets (those composed largely of silicate rocks, as opposed to gaseous
planets) it likely has a higher internal temperature than our smaller neighbors: Mars
and Mercury. We also know that at least some asteroids in the Asteroid Belt between
Mars and Jupiter once had molten cores, and these bodies were the parents of iron
meteorites. Their cores are believed to have been heated by radioactive elements and
to have reached temperatures around 1,000C. The eminent meteoriticist Dr. Rhian
Jones of the Institute of Meteoritics in Albuquerque succinctly explains the result:
What Are Meteorites?
"In a melted asteroid, melted rocky material and melted metal do not mix. The two
liquids are like oil and water and stay separate. Metal is much denser than the rocky
liquid, so metal sinks to the center of the asteroid and forms a core."
This liquid metal consisted largely of iron and nickel, which cooled very slowly over a period of millions of years,
resulting in the formation of a crystalline alloy structure visible as the Widmansttten Pattern [see below] in iron, and
some stony-iron, meteorites that have been sectioned and etched.
A catastrophic event that lead to the destruction of some of these asteroids - such as a collision with another
substantial body - scattered iron-nickel fragments into space. Occasionally these fragments encounter our planet and
hurtle, melting, through our atmosphere. Those that survive and land upon Earth's surface are iron meteorites.

How Do We Know They Are Real Meteorites?

One of the questions I am most frequently asked is: "How do we know they are real?" An experienced meteorite
researcher, hunter, or collector can usually identify a genuine iron meteorite just by looking it and holding it. While
melting in our atmosphere, iron meteorites typically acquire small oval shaped depressions on their surfaces known
as regmaglypts. These features are not found on earth rocks. Iron meteorites are very dense - much heavier than
almost all terrestrial rocks - and will easily adhere to a strong magnet. Iron meteorites also contain a relatively high
percentage of nickel - a metal very rarely found on Earth - and they display a unique feature that is never seen in
terrestrial material.

The Widmansttten Pattern In Iron Meteorites

In the early 1800s, a British geologist remembered only as "G" or possibly "William" Thomson discovered a
remarkable pattern while treating a meteorite with a solution of nitric acid. Thomson was attempting to remove
oxidized material from a specimen of the Krasnojarsk pallasite. After applying the acid, Thomson noticed a lattice-like
pattern emerging from the matrix. The same effect was also noted by Count Alois von Beckh Widmansttten in 1808,
and is today best known as the Widmansttten Pattern, but is sometimes also referred to as the Thomson Structure.
The intricate pattern is the result of extremely slow cooling of molten asteroid cores. The interlocking bands are a
mixture of the iron-nickel alloys taenite and kamacite. My colleague Elton Jones explains:
"Nickel is slightly more resistant to acid than is iron so the mineral taenite doesn't etch as fast as kamacite, thus
permitting the inducement of the Widmansttten Pattern. Coarseness is an indication of the length of time the crystal
growing process was allowed to run within the body of the asteroid. Growth of both mineral plates occurs so long as
the temperature remains above 400C and below 900C. Generally this process is measured in declines of tens of
degrees C per million years."
Since Widmansttten Patterns cannot form in earthbound rocks, the presence of this structure is proof of meteoric
origin.

Classification of Iron Meteorites

Iron meteorites typically consist of approximately 90 to 95% iron, with the remainder comprised of nickel and trace
amounts of heavy metals including iridium, gallium and sometimes gold. They are classified using two different
systems: chemical composition and structure. There are thirteen chemical groups for irons, of which IAB is the most
common. Irons that do not fit into an established class are described at Ungrouped (UNGR).
Structural classes are determined by studying the two component alloys in iron meteorites: kamacite and taenite. The
kamacite crystals revealed by etching with nitric acid are measured and the average bandwidth is used to determine
the structural class, of which there are nine, including the six octahedrites. An iron with very narrow bands, less than
1mm, (example: the Gibeon iron from Namibia) is described as a fine octahedrite. At the other end of the scale is the
coarsest octahedrite (example: Sikhote-Alin from Russia) that may display a bandwidth of 3 cm or more.
Hexahedrites exhibit large single crystals of kamacite; ataxites have an abnormally high nickel content; plessitic
octahedrites are rare and exhibit a fine spindle-like pattern when etched; the anomalous group includes those irons
that do not fit into any of the other eight classes.
Both methodologies are commonly used together when cataloging iron meteorites. For example, the Campo del Cielo
iron from Chaco Province in Argentina is a described coarse octahedrite with a chemical classification of IAB.

Some Famous Iron Meteorites

CANYON DIABLO
Coconino County, Arizona, USA
First discovered 1891
IAB, coarse octahedrite
About 25,000 years ago a building-sized iron meteorite crashed into the desert between the present-day towns of
Flagstaff and Winslow in northern Arizona. The size and inertia of the impactor resulted in a massive explosion which
excavated a crater almost 600 feet deep and 4,000 feet in diameter. Research conducted by the seminal meteorite
scientist H.H. Nininger revealed that a large part of the original mass vaporized upon impact, while hundreds of tons
of fragments fell around the crater within a radius of several miles. The site is erroneously named Meteor Crater
(craters are formed by meteorites, not meteors) and is generally regarded as the best preserved impact site on earth.
Iron meteorites are still occasionally found around the crater, but the surrounding land is privately owned and,
unfortunately, meteorite collecting is prohibited. The meteorite takes its name from a steep-sided canyon situated
west of the crater.

WILLAMETTE
Clackamas County, Oregon, USA
Discovered 1902
IIIAB, medium octahedrite
The 15-ton Willamette iron is considered by many to be the most beautiful and spectacular meteorite in the world. It
was discovered in 1902 on land owned by the Oregon Iron and Steel Company near the village of Willamettte (today
part of the city of West Linn). The finder, Mr. Ellis Hughes, together with his fifteen year-old son discretely moved the
huge iron almost a mile, onto his own land, using an ingenious hand made wooden cart. Hughes was later
successfully sued by the steel company, with ownership of the meteorite being awarded to them. In 1906 the
meteorite was purchased, reportedly for $20,600, and donated to the American Museum of Natural History in New
York. It was displayed in the Hayden Planetarium for many years, and can today be viewed in the Rose Center for
Earth and Space. Controversy has continued to follow the Willamette. The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde
Community of Oregon sued the American Museum of Natural History for the return of the Willamette, claiming it once
belonged to the Clackamas tribe, and is a relic of historic and religious significance. In the year 2000, an agreement
was reached stipulating that the Grande Ronde Community could "re-establish its relationship with the meteorite with
an annual ceremonial visit."

SIKHOTE-ALIN
Primorskiy Kray, Russia
Witnessed fall, February 12, 1947
IIAB, coarsest octahedrite
In the winter of 1947 the largest documented meteorite event took place near the Sikhote-Alin mountains in eastern
Siberia. Thousands of fragments fell among snow-covered trees, and formed an extraordinary crater field comprised
of 99 separate impact structures. There are two distinct types of Sikhote-Alin meteorites: individuals which flew
through the atmosphere on their own, often acquiring regmaglypts and orientation; and angular shrapnel fragments
which exploded as a result of atmospheric pressure. Sikhote-Alin individuals typically melted into unusual sculptural
shapes in flight, are among the most attractive iron meteorites, and are much coveted by collectors.

Nanoparticles: Iron [Fe]

To order Iron nanoparticles or for additional information, please fill out the Information
Request Form.
Basic characteristics:
Name:

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Packaging:

Antistatic plastic bags

Molecular
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Fe

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Applications:

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With high saturation magnetization and high magnetic

Magneticconductivity, iron nanoparticles are well suited as a magnetic
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Highperformance
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With advantages including high coercivity, high saturation

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and good oxidation resistance, Fe nanoparticles improve
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Magnetic fluid made of iron particles provides excellent properties.

They are widely used in sealants, shock absorption materials,
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Attributes:

Product
name

Average
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size
[nm]

Diameter Purity
Range
[nm]

[%]

Specific
surface
area
[m2/g]

Bulk
density
[g/cm3]

Shape

Iron

25

<100

99+

30-50

0.10-0.25 Round

Images:

Iron nanoparticles

Size distribution(nm)

Iron Man plants are supercharged by

nanotech power

They go all fluorescent if you treat them right

(Image: Bryce Vickmark)

The story of Iron Man, in which a man gains spectacular abilities by infusing his body with
technology, is still just fantasy. But the first Iron Plants have been made. A team of biologists and
engineers has made bionic plants that have been upgraded with an injection of nanotechnology.
The idea is two-fold&colon; to boost plants ability to photosynthesise, and to produce a new
class of bionic materials that grow and repair themselves using little more than sunlight. But the
results have been received with a mixture of amazement and scepticism, largely because the
underlying mechanisms are something of a black box.

The team say they have persuaded nanomaterials to burrow deep into plant cells, reaching the
tiny chloroplasts that make the plants energy. Here the nanomaterials enhance this process, even
allowing it to work outside the plant.
Applications remain far off, but could include self-powering and self-repairing phones or even
buildings; trees that double as cellphone towers; and a new type of fuel cell. The vision is to use
plants as a platform for technology, says team leader Michael Strano of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.

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At the heart of the experiments are chloroplasts, the tiny sacs inside plant cells that carry out
photosynthesis, harnessing energy from sunlight to make sugar out of carbon dioxide and water.
Ultimately we want to make a chloroplast that can sit on a shelf and absorb sunlight and make
sugar, says Strano.
Chloroplasts removed from plants keep photosynthesising for about four hours before reactive
chemicals called free radicals degrade them. To extend their shelf life, Strano and his colleague
Juan Pablo Giraldo turned to a substance called nanoceria, which can mop up the free radicals.
The trick was to get the nanoparticles into chloroplasts without damaging them.
The team made a basic nanomachine out of carbon nanotubes and nanoceria. Nanotubes can be
pushed into leaves, but nobody had ever managed to place them deep inside chloroplasts. Giraldo
found a simple trick&colon; coating the particles with a charged chemical, such as molecules of
DNA. The charge may allow the particles to be sucked through the chloroplasts fatty envelope,
and once inside they cannot get out again.
The team did this both in Arabidopsis plants and in isolated spinach chloroplasts.
The nanomachines extended the shelf life of isolated chloroplasts by about two hours. Whats
more, they increased the number of electrons moving within the chloroplast suggesting that
they could boost photosynthesis.

Mixed response
This is awesome, says Andrew Adamatzky of the University of the West of England in Bristol,
UK. The research uncovers novel ways to hybridise hardware and wetware and to assemble, in
principle, nano-circuits inside plants living cells.

This is a marvellous demonstration of how nanotechnology can be coupled with synthetic

biology to modify and enhance the function of living organisms, says synthetic biologist James
Collins of Boston University. The authors show that self-assembling nanoparticles can be used
to enhance the photosynthetic capacity of plants.
Others contacted by New Scientist were sceptical, demanding to understand how the enhanced
photosynthesis works. Many items need to be addressed to justify the validity of these studies,
says Marek Urban of Clemson University in South Carolina. There are a lot of big statements in
this paper but only a fraction are scientifically justified.
How the technique works is still a mystery. The experiments suggest that the boost comes from
the carbon nanotubes, which are semiconductors. Exposing semiconductors to light modifies
their electron structure, and its possible that the excited semiconductors shunt electrons on to the
photosynthetic machinery, says Giraldo. Strano calls this supercharging.
Plants are green because they reflect green light rather than absorbing energy from it. They also
do not use some infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths. Strano and Giraldo suggest that their
bionic plants might be harnessing a wider range of wavelengths and thus obtaining more energy,
thanks to the nanotubes. But Strano concedes that the enhanced electron signal he observed is a
long way from proving enhanced photosynthesis, and that he does not understand how the plant
uses the nanoparticles.

Living tech
Stranos group is working on using chloroplasts in fuel cells, which would be similar to algal
biofuel farms but without the inconvenient need to keep plants alive. Their early versions ooze
out glucose and maltose when exposed to light. Sugar is a very dense way of storing energy,
says Strano. It stores about 20 times the energy in the same amount of space as a lithium
battery.
In plants, the sugars provide energy and serve as the building blocks for leaves and stems. That
means the sugars could be used to make novel polymers, says Giraldo.
Bionic plants could also be used to warn of the presence of unwanted chemicals. Already, the
team has used the fluorescent properties of nanotubes to make Arabidopsis plants light up in the
presence of substances like nitric oxide. Strano and Giraldo envisage plants that could signal the
presence of pollutants and explosives.
It might even be possible to turn plants into living electronic devices, says Strano. For instance,
trees could be transformed into cellphone towers that blend harmoniously into the environment
and can grow back if damaged by a storm. Or, if the nano-chloroplasts could be included in
building materials, they might allow structures to stay off-grid by generating their own power.

Iron oxide nanoparticles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Iron oxide nanoparticles are iron oxide particles with diameters between about 1 and 100
nanometers. The two main forms are magnetite (Fe3O4) and its oxidized form maghemite (Fe2O3). They have attracted extensive interest due to their superparamagnetic properties and their
potential applications in many fields (although Co and Ni are also highly magnetic materials,
they are toxic and easily oxidized).
Applications of iron oxide nanoparticles include terabit magnetic storage devices, catalysis,
sensors, and high-sensitivity biomolecular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for medical
diagnosis and therapeutics. These applications require coating of the nanoparticles by agents
such as long-chain fatty acids, alkyl-substituted amines and diols.[citation needed]

Contents
[hide]

1 Structure

2 Magnetic properties

3 Synthesis
o

3.1 Coprecipitation

3.2 Microemulsions

3.3 High-temperature decomposition of organic precursors

4 Biomedical Applications

5 References

Structure[edit]
Magnetite has an inverse spinel structure with oxygen forming a face-centered cubic crystal
system. In magnetite, all tetrahedral sites are occupied by Fe3+
and octahedral sites are occupied by both Fe3+
and Fe2+
. Maghemite differs from magnetite in that all or most of the iron is in the trivalent state (Fe3+
) and by the presence of cation vacancies in the octahedral sites. Maghemite has a cubic unit cell
in which each cell contains 32 O ions, 2113 Fe3+
ions and 223 vacancies. The cations are distributed randomly over the 8 tetrahedral and 16
octahedral sites.[1][2]

Magnetic properties[edit]
Due to its 4 unpaired electrons in 3d shell, an iron atom has a strong magnetic moment. Ions
Fe2+
have also 4 unpaired electrons in 3d shell and Fe3+
have 5 unpaired electrons in 3d shell. Therefore, when crystals are formed from iron atoms or

ions Fe2+
and Fe3+
they can be in ferromagnetic, antiferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic states.
In the paramagnetic state, the individual atomic magnetic moments are randomly oriented, and
the substance has a zero net magnetic moment if there is no magnetic field. These materials have
a relative magnetic permeability greater than one and are attracted to magnetic fields. The
magnetic moment drops to zero when the applied field is removed. But in a ferromagnetic
material, all the atomic moments are aligned even without an external field. A ferrimagnetic
material is similar to a ferromagnet but has two different types of atoms with opposing magnetic
moments. The material has a magnetic moment because the opposing moments have different
strengths. If they have the same magnitude, the crystal is antiferromagnetic and possesses no net
magnetic moment.[3]
When an external magnetic field is applied to a ferromagnetic material, the magnetization (M)
increases with the strength of the magnetic field (H) until it approaches saturation. Over some
range of fields the magnetization has hysteresis because there is more than one stable magnetic
state for each field. Therefore, a remanent magnetization will be present even after removing the
external magnetic field.[3]
A single domain magnetic material (ex: magnetic nanoparticles) that has no hysteresis loop is
said to be superparamagnetic. The ordering of magnetic moments in ferromagnetic,
antiferromagnetic, and ferrimagnetic materials decreases with increasing temperature.
Ferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic materials become disordered and lose their magnetization
beyond the Curie temperature
and antiferromagnetic materials lose their magnetization
beyond the Nel temperature
. Magnetite is ferrimagnetic at room temperature and has a
Curie temperature of 850 K. Maghemite is ferrimagnetic at room temperature, unstable at high
temperatures, and loses its susceptibility with time. (Its Curie temperature is hard to determine).
Both magnetite and maghemite nanoparticles are superparamagnetic at room temperature.[3] This
superparamagnetic behavior of iron oxide nanoparticles can be attributed to their size. When the
size gets small enough (<20 nm), thermal fluctuations can change the direction of magnetization
of the entire crystal. A material with many such crystals behaves like a paramagnet, except that
the moments of entire crystals are fluctuating instead of individual atoms.[3]

Synthesis[edit]
The preparation method has a large effect on shape, size distribution, and surface chemistry of
the particles. It also determines to a great extent the distribution and type of structural defects or
impurities in the particles. All these factors affect magnetic behavior. Recently, many attempts
have been made to develop processes and techniques that would yield monodisperse colloids
consisting of nanoparticles uniform in size and shape.
Coprecipitation[edit]

By far the most employed method is coprecipitation. This method can be further divided into two
types. In the first, ferrous hydroxide suspensions are partially oxidized with different oxidizing
agents. For example, spherical magnetite particles of narrow size distribution with mean
diameters between 30 and 100 nm can be obtained from a Fe(II) salt, a base and a mild oxidant
(nitrate ions).[4] The other method consists in ageing stoichiometric mixtures of ferrous and ferric

hydroxides in aqueous media, yielding spherical magnetite particles homogeneous in size.[5] In

the second type, the following chemical reaction occurs:
2Fe3+
+ Fe2+
+ 8OH
- Fe3O4 + 4H2O

Optimum conditions for this reaction are pH between 8 and 14, Fe3+
/Fe2+
ratio of 2:1 and a non-oxidizing environment. Being highly susceptibile to oxidation, magnetite
(Fe3O4) is transformed to maghemite (Fe2O3) in the presence of oxygen:[1]
2Fe3O4 + O2 2Fe2O3

The size and shape of the nanoparticles can be controlled by adjusting pH, ionic strength,
temperature, nature of the salts (perchlorates, chlorides, sulfates, and nitrates), or the
Fe(II)/Fe(III) concentration ratio.[1]
Microemulsions[edit]

A microemulsion is a stable isotropic dispersion of 2 immiscible liquids consisting of nanosized

domains of one or both liquids in the other stabilized by an interfacial film of surface-active
molecules. Microemulsions may be categorized further as oil-in-water (o/w) or water-in-oil
(w/o), depending on the dispersed and continuous phases.[2] Water-in-oil is more popular for
synthesizing many kinds of nanoparticles. The water and oil are mixed with an amphiphillic
surfactant. The surfactant lowers the surface tension between water and oil, making the solution
transparent. The water nanodroplets act as nanoreactors for synthesizing nanoparticles. The
shape of the water pool is spherical. The size of the nanoparticles will depend on size of the
water pool to a great extent. Thus, the size of the spherical nanoparticles can be tailored and
tuned by changing the size of the water pool.[6]
High-temperature decomposition of organic precursors[edit]

The decomposition of iron precursors in the presence of hot organic surfactants results in
samples with good size control, narrow size distribution (5-12 nm) and good crystallinity; and
the nanoparticles are easily dispersed. For biomedical applications like magnetic resonance
imaging, magnetic cell separation or magnetorelaxometry, where particle size plays a crucial
role, magnetic nanoparticles produced by this method are very useful. Viable iron precursors
include Fe(Cup)
3,Fe(CO)
5, or Fe(acac)
3 in organic solvents with surfactant molecules. A combination of Xylenes and Sodium
Dodecylbenezensulfonate as a surfactant are used to create nanoreactors for which well dispersed
iron(II) and iron (III) salts can react.[1]

Biomedical Applications[edit]
Magnetite and maghemite are preferred in biomedicine because they are biocompatible and
potentially non-toxic to humans[citation needed]. Iron oxide is easily degradable and therefore useful for
in vivo applications[citation needed]. Results from exposure of a human mesothelium cell line and a

murine fibroblast cell line to seven industrially important nanoparticles showed a nanoparticle
specific cytotoxic mechanism for uncoated iron oxide.[7] Solubility was found to strongly
influence the cytotoxic response. Labelling cells (e.g. stem cells, dendritic cells) with iron oxide
nanoparticles is an interesting new tool to monitor such labelled cells in real time by magnetic
resonance tomography.[8]

References[edit]
1.

^ Jump up to: a b c d Laurent, Sophie; Forge, Delphine; Port, Marc; Roch,

Alain; Robic, Caroline; Vander Elst, Luce; Muller, Robert N. (2008). "Magnetic
Iron Oxide Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Stabilization, Vectorization,
Physicochemical Characterizations, and Biological Applications". Chemical
Reviews 108 (6): 2064110. doi:10.1021/cr068445e. PMID 18543879.

2.

^ Jump up to:
Materials. Elsevier.

3.

^ Jump up to: a b c d Teja, Amyn S.; Koh, Pei-Yoong (2009). "Synthesis,

properties, and applications of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles". Progress
in Crystal Growth and Characterization of Materials 55: 22.
doi:10.1016/j.pcrysgrow.2008.08.003.

4.

Jump up ^ Sugimoto, T (1980). "Formation of uniform spherical

magnetite particles by crystallization from ferrous hydroxide gels*1". Journal
of Colloid and Interface Science 74: 227. doi:10.1016/0021-9797(80)90187-3.

a b

Buschow, K.H.G., ed. (2006). Hand Book of Magnetic

5.

Jump up ^ Massart, R.; Cabuil, V.J.Chem.Phy.1987, 84,967.

6.

Jump up ^ Laughlin, R (1976). "An expedient technique for

determining solubility phase boundaries in surfactant?water systems*1".
Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 55: 239. doi:10.1016/00219797(76)90030-8.

7.

Jump up ^ Brunner, Tobias J.; Wick, Peter; Manser, Pius; Spohn,

Philipp; Grass, Robert N.; Limbach, Ludwig K.; Bruinink, Arie; Stark, Wendelin
J. (2006). "In Vitro Cytotoxicity of Oxide Nanoparticles: Comparison to
Asbestos, Silica, and the Effect of Particle Solubility". Environmental Science
& Technology 40 (14): 4374. Bibcode:2006EnST...40.4374B.
doi:10.1021/es052069i.

8.

Jump up ^ Bulte, Jeff W. M.; Kraitchman, Dara L. (2004). "Iron oxide

MR contrast agents for molecular and cellular imaging". NMR in Biomedicine
17 (7): 484499. doi:10.1002/nbm.924.
Chemical Data

Chemical symbol

Fe2O3

CAS No.

1309-37-1

Group

Electronic configuration

Oxygen 16
Iron 8
Iron [Ar] 3d6 4s2
Oxygen [He] 2s2 2p4
Chemical Composition

Element

Content (%)

Iron

69.93

Oxygen

30.03

Properties

Metric

Imperial

Molar mass

159.69 g/mol

Properties

Metric

Imperial

1566 C

2851F

Melting point