Iron peak

The iron peak is a local maximum in the vicinity of Fe (V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co and Ni) on the graph of the abundances of chemical elements, as seen below.

For elements lighter than iron on the periodic table, nuclear fusion releases energy. For iron, and for all of the heavier elements, nuclear fusion consumes energy, but nuclear fission releases it. Chemical elements up to the iron peak are produced in ordinary stellar nucleosynthesis. Heavier elements are produced only during supernova nucleosynthesis. This is why we have more iron peak elements than in its neighbourhood.

Binding energy

The graph below shows the nuclear binding energy per nucleon of various elements. Increasing values of binding energy can be thought as the energy released when a collection of nuclei is rearranged into another collection for which the sum of nuclear binding energies is higher. As can be seen, light elements such as hydrogen release large amounts of energy (a big increase in binding energy) when combined to form heavier nuclei—the process of fusion. Conversely, heavy elements such as uranium release energy when converted to lighter nuclei—processes of alpha decay and nuclear fission. 56
28Ni is the most thermodynamically favorable in the cores of high-mass stars (see also Silicon burning process). Although some nuclides with 58 and 62 nucleons have even higher (per nucleon) binding energy, their synthesis cannot be achieved in large quantities because the required number of neutrons is typically not available in the stellar nuclear material.

Iron (Silent Stream of Godless Elegy album)

Iron is an album by Moravian (Czech Republic) folk metal band Silent Stream of Godless Elegy, originally released in 1996 by Leviathan Records.

Track listing

Iron (Woodkid song)

"Iron" is the debut single by Woodkid (real name Yoann Lemoine) taken from his album The Golden Age that was prepared in 2011 but released in 2013. It was written by Yoann Lemoine himself and arrangements by Gustave Rudman. The single was released on March 28, 2011. This song gained immense popularity after being used in a trailer for Assassin's Creed: Revelations.

Iron (EP)

A remix EP was also released called Iron (EP) in 2011 charting in its own right.

Tracklist

Charts

References

Iron (metaphor)

Iron, when used metaphorically, refers to certain traits of the metal iron. Used as an adjective and sometimes as a noun, it refers to something stern, harsh, unyielding, inflexible, rigid, sturdy, strong, robust. It is sometimes used for something technological (iron lung) or not technologically advanced (iron bomb).

List of iron metaphors

This list is categorized superficially, rather than by the actual meanings of the expressions, to stress the metaphorical usage.

Persons and characters

Animals and plants