The Iron Conspiracy

Words: 1482
Pages: 6

Iron: The Killer, The Creator, and The Promise in The Universe

Iron has long been used by humans for many things, including as the support that holds together the buildings that make up our modern world as we know it. It is used to create our greatest machines, tools, weapons, and more. The chemical element can also be found in our bodies, and we must keep our iron levels sufficient in order to be healthy. It is what will carry humans when we are hopefully able to leave this world behind and travel into the vast depths of space when the time comes. Iron is the heaviest element formed in a star and because it cannot be fused any further, the star will die soon after it has created iron. This makes the element a star killer, but a planet maker,
…show more content…
Iron not only allows for the creation planets, but makes up essential parts of them as well. After a supernova, all different kinds of atoms are shot “all over the universe, and eventually gravity sucks these atoms into new planets” (Quatr). The process of accretion, not only creates planets, but meteorites as well. The meteorites can be traced back to the planets because “From the very fact that there are both stony and iron meteorites, it can be deduced that they have a planet as a source” (EarthGuide). From iron and stony meteorites, there is evidence that iron allows for planets to form due to supernovae and helps makes up the matter of the planets. Home to humans, Earth has a “core [which] is mostly made of iron, while earth’s crust… is about ten percent iron” (Quatr). As researchers are “studying iron… [it] could also help model the interior of smaller rocky planets such as Mars and Mercury” (Space, Solar System Secrets). Earth’s molten iron core is similar to many other planets’ cores. Mars and Mercury, both being rocky planets like Earth, are the closest relative to the planet humans call home. If modern hominins were to move planets, the planets with a molten iron core would be the first choice as they are the most habitable. Iron kills stars to give life to planets. The earth on which all known life resides is habitable due to its iron core, its creation due to iron, and its …show more content…
Nearly 5,000 years ago, “the first smelted iron reached Egypt from Tinay” (ReshaFilm). In Rome, about 2,500 years later, it is recorded that an “ancient iron worker had learned to hammer most of the carbon out of his iron to make it soft” (Jay’s Roman). Ancient Egyptians would trade for the precious smelted metal, leading to more professionally smelted iron in Ancient Rome, directly showing changes by collective learning. As shown in Ancient Rome, “the secrets of iron were repeatedly learned by many human beings and at many times” (Jay’s Roman). On the contrary, the secrets of iron smelting were not shared to it’s full extent because “There were no books to consult on the process, as few ironworkers were also scribes” (Jay’s Roman). Collective learning was limited in iron smelting. The earliest iron smelters lived in the age of the first written languages. Using logic, historians have determined that the craft could usually only be passed down through vocal communication. Iron smelters used collective learning to the furthest possible extent. Their contributions led to the first iron weapons and machines which drove the hominins into the Anthropocene