Iron is an element, number 26 on the periodic table, and it's the most abundant element on Earth, even more common

than oxygen. That commonality is the consequence of a planetary crust heavily laden with iron,

and it makes up the majority of Earth's inner and outer cores as well. Iron metal is relatively

rare in the portion of the Earth to which we have access, the crust.

We found bits and pieces here and there, mostly from asteroid impacts, but metallic iron

otherwise must be refined using very high heat, temperatures in the 1500 degrees Celsius or 2,730 degrees Fahrenheit range. And that's what allows us to take iron ore,

which is iron mixed with other rocks and minerals, and process it into a more pure metallic state.

And this is why, despite that overwhelming abundance of iron, technically available throughout many long populated regions.

It took a while before our ancestors started to refine and wield it for various purposes, kicking off the Iron Age.

Bronze only requires temperatures of around 500 degrees Celsius, which is about 932 degrees Fahrenheit. So something like

a third, the temperature required base level, to do anything meaningful to iron. It then took

us a while to be able to make and control fire hot enough to productively work with it.

Steel is an alloy made primarily of iron,

but with a bunch of carbon added into the mix,

alongside in some cases other substances like chromium,

which can give it other properties and powers.

Fundamentally, though, just like cast iron and wrought iron,

steel is refined iron made more potent, in this case by making

it less ductile, less soft and reshapable.

That means it's more difficult and energy intensive to work with steel, but the resulting

product is also a lot more useful, strength-wise, and in the case of steel with chromium

added to the mix, usually

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