Iron is a silvery, white metal that you can find in rocks. Its chemical symbol is Fe, for ferrum. It has 26 protons and a mass of 56.

The industry gets pure iron out of ore that is melted at a high temperature, about 1,500 °C.

All plants, animals, and human beings need iron. Most iron in our body is in the red blood cells, where it helps to form haemoglobin, a substance that carries oxygen to all parts of the body. We also need iron in our muscles. So it’s important to eat enough food with iron in it, or else you might get tired and weak.



Brazilian iron ore
Image: "HematitaEZ" by Zimbres via Wikimedia Commons, 
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0



Words

  • haemoglobin = a red substance in your body that has iron in it and carries oxygen
  • melt = to change from solid to liquid form
  • ore = a rock that has metal in it
  • oxygen = a gas that is in the air and which we need to breathe
  • pure = something that is not mixed with anything else