Iron

Iron is extracted from iron ore in a huge container called a blast furnace. Iron ores such as haematite contain iron oxide. The oxygen must be removed from the iron oxide to leave the iron behind. Reactions in which oxygen is removed are called reduction reactions.

Blast furnace in a modern steel works

Carbon is more reactive than iron, so it can push out or displace the iron from iron oxide. Here are the equations for the reaction:

iron oxide + carbon → iron + carbon dioxide

2Fe₂O₃ + 3C → 4Fe + 3CO₂

In this reaction, the iron oxide is reduced to iron, and the carbon is oxidised to carbon dioxide.

In the blast furnace, it is so hot that carbon monoxide will also reduce iron oxide:

iron oxide + carbon monoxide → iron + carbon dioxide

Fe₂O₃ + 3CO → 2Fe + 3CO₂

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Atoms

Atoms consist of electrons surrounding a nucleus that contains protons and neutrons. Neutrons are neutral, but protons and electrons are electrically charged: protons have a relative charge of +1 and electrons have a relative charge of -1.

Atoms and elements

All substances are made of tiny particles called atoms. An element is a substance that is made of only one sort of atom. There are about 100 different elements. These are shown in the periodic table, which is a chart with all the elements arranged in a particular way. The horizontal rows in the periodic table are called periods and the vertical columns are called groups. The elements in a group have similar properties to each other.

Metals and non-metals

The metals are shown on the left of the periodic table, and the non-metals are shown on the right. The dividing line between metals and non-metals is shown in red on the table below. You can see that most of the elements are metals.

The periodic table divided into non-metals and metals

Chemical symbols

The atoms of each element are represented by a chemical symbol. This usually consists of one or two different letters, but sometimes three letters are used for newly discovered elements. For example, O represents an oxygen atom, and Na represents a sodium atom.

The first letter in a chemical symbol is always an UPPERCASE letter, and the other letters are always lowercase. So, the symbol for a magnesium atom is Mg and not mg, MG or mG.

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