Iron (pronounced /ˈаɪ.ərn/) is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Fe (Latin: ferrum) and atomic number 26. Iron is a group 8 and period 4 element and is therefore classified as a transition metal. Iron and iron alloys (steels) are by far the most common metals and the most common ferromagnetic materials in everyday use.

Fresh iron surfaces are lustrous and silvery-grey in color, but oxidize in air to form a red or brown coating of ferrous oxide or rust. Pure single crystals of iron are soft (softer than aluminium), and the addition of minute amounts of impurities, such as carbon, significantly strengthens them. Alloying iron with appropriate small amounts (up to a few per cent) of other metals and carbon produces steel, which can be 1,000 times harder than pure iron.

Iron-56 is the heaviest stable isotope produced by the alpha process in stellar nucleosynthesis; heavier elements than iron and nickel require a supernova for their formation. Iron is the most abundant element in the core of red giants, and is the most abundant metal in iron meteorites and in the dense metal cores of planets such as Earth. Pure iron is a metal but is rarely found in this form on the surface of the earth because it oxidizes readily in the presence of oxygen and moisture.

In order to obtain metallic iron, oxygen must be removed from naturally occurring ores by chemical reduction – mainly of the iron ore hematite (Fe2O3) by carbon at high temperature. The properties of iron can be modified by alloying it with various other metals (and some non-metals, notably carbon and silicon) to form steels.

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