Iron is a metallic chemical element. The latin word for it is ferrum and the symbol is Fe while its atomic number is 26. It is the most common ferromagnetic materials in our everyday use. Its pure forms of single crystals are soft and addition of smaller quantities of impurities such as carbon strengthens it. It is the most abundant element in the cores of planets such as Earth. Its pure form is rarely found on the surface of the Earth since it oxidizes readily in the presence of oxygen and moisture. Removing oxygen from ores by way of chemical reduction helps to obtain metallic iron.
Nuclei of iron atoms have the second highest binding energies per nucleon. It is a necessary element used by almost all living organisms. Exceptions to these are several organisms that live in iron poor environments and use elements such as manganese instead for catalysis.
Its mechanical properties and alloys are evaluated using various measurements such as Brinell test, Rockwell test etc. Research purpose pure single crystals of the same are softer than aluminium while only addition of 10 parts per million of carbon doubles its strength. The purest industrially produced iron has 10-30 Brinell hardness.
It is the sixth most abundant element in the Universe is formed in the act of nucleosynthesis in massive stars. It almost makes up about 5% of the Earth's crust and iron-nickel alloy constitutes about 35% of the mass of the Earth. Iron found in the crust is mostly combined with oxygen as iron oxide minerals like hematite and magnetite.