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Iron

  • Living reference work entry
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Encyclopedia of Geochemistry

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

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FormalPara Element Data

Atomic Symbol: Fe

Atomic Number: 26

Atomic Weight: 55.847 g/mol

Isotopes and Abundances: 54Fe 5.845%, 56Fe 91.754%, 57Fe 2.119%, 58Fe 0.282%

1 bar Melting Point: 1,538 °C

1 bar Boiling Point: 2,862 °C

Common Valences: 0, +2, +3

Ionic Radii: Fe+2 78 pm (6-fold, high-spin); Fe+3 64.5 pm (6-fold, high-spin)

Pauling Electronegativity: 1.83

First Ionization Potential: 762.5 kJ/mol

Chondritic (CI) Abundance: 18.28 wt. %

Silicate Earth Abundance: 6.26 wt. %

Crustal Abundance: 5.04 wt. %

Seawater Abundance: 30 pg/g

Core Abundance: 78–88 wt. %

Properties

Iron is one of a small group of metals that has been known to humans since antiquity. An entire period of human history, the Iron Age, followed the Bronze Age, as iron alloys replaced Cu alloys for tools and weapons. Since the Industrial Revolution, the production of steel makes iron one of the 2–3 most highly used elements.

Iron is one of the most abundant elements in the terrestrial planets, constituting ~30 wt. % of...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 32310, USA

    Munir Humayun

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  1. Munir Humayun
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Correspondence to Munir Humayun .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth, Cornell University Department of Earth, Ithaca, New York, USA

    William M. White

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Humayun, M. (2017). Iron. In: White, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39193-9_247-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39193-9_247-1

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