Iron ore to Iron?

Question

i was just wondering how iron ores were formed and how those ores change to iron?

Answer 1

Many of the world's large iron ore deposits were formed early in the pre-cambrian era; when there was no free oxygen in the atmosphere.  It is thought that the action of bacteria in the oceans produced oxygen; which combined with the dissolved iron minerals in the water to form iron oxide; which precipirated out and fell to the bottom.  These formed a particular type of roock called Banded Iron Formation; a mix of iron oxide and silica.

Very much later, these deposits were altered by circulating waters, which concentrated the iron, and leached out the silica; forming the rich iron ores we have today.

To extract the iron; the rock is first crushed and treated to remove as much unwanted material as possible; sometimes being pelletised for easier transport.  The ore is then a mix of iron oxide and some silica, with small amounts of other minerals.  The ore is placed in a blast furnace together with coke and limestone.  When hot air is blown through the mixture, the coke burns and combines with the oxygen to form carbon dioxide, leaving molten iron. The limestone reacts with the non-iron minerals to produce slag, which is lighter, and floats to the surface.

The iron can then be drawn off as 'pig iron'; but needs further treatment before it can be used or alloyed with other materials to make steel.

There are good articles about iron ore and banded iron in Wikipedia

Answer 2

iron ores are created under extreme pressures underneath the earth using heat and several gases to create a rock like form with tiny bits of ferrous and ferric elements. Both are iron, one being in a greenish form and one in a reddish form. Those rocks are then taken to labs and are broken down and the iron particles are separeted from the rock and then accumulated to become iron.

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