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Iron | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

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Iron Summary

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Iron

Symbol

Fe

Atomic Number

26

Atomic Mass

55.847

Family

Group 8 (Viiib) Transition Metal Pronunciation

EYE-um

Overview

The period in human history beginning in about 1200 B.C. is called the Iron Age. It was at about this time that humans first learned how to use iron metal. But in some ways, one could refer to the current era as the New Iron Age. Iron is probably the most widely used and most important metal today. No other metal is available to replace iron in all its many applications.

Iron is a transition metal. The transition metals are the elements that make up Groups 3 through 12 in the periodic table. The periodic table is a chart that shows how elements are related to one another. The transition metals are typical metals in that they tend to be bright, shiny, silvery solids. They all tend to conduct heat and electricity well. And they usually have high melting points.

Iron normally does not occur as a free element in the earth. In fact, iron was not of much value to humans until they learned how to free iron from its compounds. Once they could do that, humans were able to make tools, weapons, household implements, and other objects out of iron.

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Copyrights
Iron from Chemical Elements. ©2005-2006 by U•X•L. U•X•L is an imprint of Thomson Gale, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. All rights reserved.

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