Iron Oxide

IRON OXIDE

Iron oxide is an inorganic compound with higher iron content. It is also called a ferric oxide and is one of the three main oxides of iron. Ferric trioxide, a mineral named hematite, is the main source of iron for the steel industry. It is readily attacked by acids. Iron oxide is known as rust because rust having similar compositions shares several properties. In chemistry, rust is taken as an ill-defined material, described as Hydrous ferric oxide. It appears as a reddish-brown solid. Its crystal structure is rhombohedral. It reacts with water and sulphuric acid. It is an odorless substance that is insoluble in water but highly soluble in acids. It occurs in abundance naturally.

It is a chemical complex comprising iron and oxygen occurring naturally. Iron oxide is vital to humans and beneficial in most geological activities. This iron oxide is sometimes required for investigations of its own particular properties or used as starting materials for other chemical processes. Submission to fumes from Iron Oxide causes fever. This is a flu-like condition with metallic taste signs, fever, aches, chest tightness, and cough. Ferrous Oxide is highly flammable and reactive and combusts in air spontaneously. Black iron oxide which is magnetite is used for corrosion resistance, too.

USES AND APPLICATIONS FOR Iron Oxide

It has some uses as following:

• The black iron oxide is used in both copperplate and die stamping inks.
• It works as a pigment of natural titanium dioxide.
• Its salt is served as a flocculant in wastewater treatment, the dyeing of textiles, and the production of fertilizer and feed additives.
• It is utilized as a polishing material in the jewelry trade.
• It is served for precipitating copper and lead from solutions of their salts and in an electric furnace.
• Iron oxides are used as a contrast agent in magnetic resonance imaging.