fer

Traductions

• anglais

  Date : 1983

  Définition

  Element of atomic number 26, of group VIII of the periodic system. Silvery-white, tenacious, lustrous, malleable, ductile metal, rarely found native except in meteorites... Pure iron has a specific gravity of 7.85; m.p. 1535 °C, b.p. 3000 °C.
  An element. State: solid; group: VIII; atomic no.: 26; atomic WT.: 55.847; valence: 2,3; isotopes; 4 stable. A strongly reactive transition metal, m.p. 1536 °C (2797 °F), iron occurs widely (especially in Minnesota and Alabama), usually in the form of oxides (hematite, taconite); it is present in most soils in a concentration of form 1 to 6%. Iron ores are reduced by heating (smelting) with coke and calcium carbonate to yield pig iron, primarily used for steel manufacture. Iron has important electrochemical and magnetic properties; it will remove hydrogen from water and thus is easily oxidized to form rust (corrosion), a reaction in which water acts as catalyst.

  Note :

  Finely divided and purified iron is used as a chemical reagent and catalyst, as well as in magnets. Its physical properties can be modified by heat treatment (tempering) and by the presence of low percentages of carbon. Biochemically, it is essential in life processed and is the primary constituent of red blood cells (hemoglobin). Iron oxide (Fe₂O₃) is widely used as an industrial pigment, as a polishing abrasive, and a catalyst.

  Termes :

  1. iron
  2. Fe

  [Fe] Symbol for the element iron, taken from the Latin, ferrum meaning « iron ». This form is conventionally used in the names of most iron compounds (ferric, ferrous).