Talk:Iron(III) oxide

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[edit] Thermite

Why does this page say that Iron(III) oxide is used in thermite, when it actually seems more likely that the oxidation state of 2 for Iron would be used in this reaction(because it is combustible)? See the article on Iron(II) oxide.

In the thermite reaction the iron oxide NOT burning in oxygen, so combustibility is not an issue. Rather, the iron oxide is an oxidising agent, which oxidises aluminium metal to aluminium oxide. For this purpose the more strongly oxidising iron(III) oxide is preferred, though iron(II) oxide probably still works. Also, iron(III) oxide is much commoner, and that is probably a factor as well.
Believe me this does work! When I was in high school we had a student doing Al/Fe2O3 thermite reactions on Parents Day. He was grinding up his mixture (about 250 grams!) when the headmaster + several parents were in the lab, and the whole lot went up, destroying the boy's shirt and filling the lab with thick smoke. No one hurt, but rather embarrassing, and rather dramatic.....! Walkerma 22:15, 16 November 2005 (UTC)
I have added a reference to back this up, sorry it's from 1945! Most modern books shun descriptive chemistry like this, unfortunately. I have removed the disputed notice. There was a (hidden) comment disputing a bold claim about Fe2O3 magnetic storage being #1, I have hidden this section because there are no refs to back it up. I suspect that it was true at one time, but in the days of CDs and DVDs it may well no longer be true. If someone has a reference to back it up then it is there ready to put back in. Walkerma 22:43, 16 November 2005 (UTC)
Iron(II) oxide will work in a thermite reaction, but it is rarely available in a lab! It will slowly oxidise in air to magnetite. Physchim62 (talk) 04:44, 17 November 2005 (UTC)
I'm a physist, and my comment might therefore be misplaced. However, it seems to me that the article confuses two iron oxide minerals (hematite and magmhemite), which in fact have the same chemical formula, but which differ widely in properties and applications. For instance hematite is antoferromagnetic or weakly ferromagnetic and has a hexagonal structure, whereas maghemite is ferrimagnetic and has a cubic/spinel structure. jarihj

29 December 2005

[edit] HELP

okay, so we know that Iron Oxide is Fe2O3 ... but whats the actually Balanced Equation????? I know the wording equation (Iron + Oxygene = Iron Oxide), but what is the balanced equation. Fe02 ... but how much of Fe? I cant work it out. I'm a yr9 student, and i really need to know to finnish my corrosion and risting project. Thanks - Lilly Harrington --124.178.99.18 12:09, 30 July 2006 (UTC)Lilly Harrington

Sorry, we can't do your homework for you. It's aFe + bO2 → cFe2O3, and you have to figure out what a, b, and c are so that both sides have the same number of both kind of atoms. —Keenan Pepper 22:44, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Poop

Is poop really the term? the article mentioned a very fine poop used in rouge, but this really didn't make sense to me. Could it be vandalism or am I missing a really technical term? I substituted "precipitate" RSido 00:48, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

No it isn't the term - if you look the previous edit was an anon changing "powder" into "poop". How hilarious of them, I've never seen anything so funny on Wikipedia before. If you see something like that, look at the history and check the recent edits - words like "gay" and "poop" or obscenities are nearly always vandalism. Fortunately the bots usually find them. Thank you for catching that, which obviously slipped through! Walkerma 07:55, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The three Is

Hi. I don't know how I ended up here, but the only thing I was interested in finding out isn't mentioned on the page. Could someone add a short paragraph explaining what the three IIIs in iron(III) oxide mean for those initiates such as I? Thanks. Dennywuh 01:00, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

It is a Roman numeral 3, and it indicates that the oxidation state of the iron here is +3. If you write it as an ionic structure, that means the iron has a charge of +3. There is another iron oxide where the iron has a +2 oxidation state, and that is called iron(II) oxide. Walkerma 02:55, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] iron(III) solutions

Anyone got any ideas on how to make iron(III) solutions??