Reactions
The most important reaction is its carbothermal reduction, which gives iron used in steel-making:
- 2 Fe2O3 + 3 C → 4 Fe + 3 CO2
Another redox reaction is the extremely exothermic thermite reaction with aluminium.
- 2 Al + Fe2O3 → 2 Fe + Al2O3
This process is used to weld thick metals such as rails of train tracks by using a ceramic container to funnel the molten iron in between two sections of rail. Thermite is also used in weapons and making small-scale cast-iron sculptures and tools.
Partial reduction with hydrogen at about 400 °C gives magnetite, a black magnetic material that contains both Fe(III) and Fe(II):
- 3 Fe2O3 + H2 → 2 Fe3O4 + H2O
Iron(III) oxide is insoluble in water but dissolves readily in strong acid, e.g. hydrochloric and sulfuric acids. It also dissolves well in solutions of the chelating agents such as EDTA and oxalic acid.
Heating iron(III) oxides with other metal oxides or carbonates yields materials known as ferrates:
- ZnO + Fe2O3 → Zn(FeO2)2
Read more about this topic: Iron(III) Oxide
Famous quotes containing the word reactions:
“Cuteness in children is totally an adult perspective. The children themselves are unaware that the quality exists, let alone its desirability, until the reactions of grownups inform them.”
—Leontine Young (20th century)
“In this Journal, my pen is a delicate needle point, tracing out a graph of temperament so as to show its daily fluctuations: grave and gay, up and down, lamentation and revelry, self-love and self-disgust. You get here all my thoughts and opinions, always irresponsible and often contradictory or mutually exclusive, all my moods and vapours, all the varying reactions to environment of this jelly which is I.”
—W.N.P. Barbellion (1889–1919)
“We have all had the experience of finding that our reactions and perhaps even our deeds have denied beliefs we thought were ours.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1987)