Question

What happens when steam is passed over red hot iron? Write the chemical equation.

Answer 1

We need to know that hot iron cannot react with water at ordinary temperature. Thus water is used in the form of steam. When steam comes into contact with the red hot iron, a chemical reaction occurs, resulting in the creation of the product. In this reaction, steam undergoes reduction which we will see later. A reduction reaction occurs when one or more electrons are gained by a reactant in a chemical reaction.

Complete answer:
When steam comes into contact with red hot iron, iron oxide is created as a byproduct, and hydrogen gas is released. When steam comes into contact with red hot iron, iron oxide is formed as a byproduct, and hydrogen gas is released. In addition, a combination of iron oxide is generated. Iron (ii) Oxide and Iron (iii) Oxide are the two types of iron oxides.
The chemical equation for the reaction of red hot iron with steam can be written as follows:
${\text{3F}}{{\text{e}}_{{\text{(s)}}}}{\text{ + 4}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}}{{\text{O}}_{{\text{(g)}}}} \to {\text{F}}{{\text{e}}_{\text{3}}}{{\text{O}}_{{\text{4(s)}}}}{\text{ + 4}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}}_{{\text{(g)}}}$
The ${\text{F}}{{\text{e}}_{\text{3}}}{{\text{O}}_{{\text{4(s)}}}}$ formed in this reaction is a mixed oxide of ${\text{(Fe}}{\text{.O}}{\text{.F}}{{\text{e}}_{\text{2}}}{{\text{O}}_{\text{3}}}{\text{)}}$. This mixture is the magnetite of the Iron. Therefore, when steam is passed over heated iron, it can be concluded that the steam is reduced to hydrogen gas whereas the magnetite of the iron is also formed in the reaction.

Note:
We can see that in this reaction the steam is being reduced to ${{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}}_{{\text{(g)}}}$. This is an example of a reduction reaction. However, the overall reaction is an example of redox reaction as ${\text{F}}{{\text{e}}_{{\text{(s)}}}}$ gets oxidised to ${\text{F}}{{\text{e}}_{\text{3}}}{{\text{O}}_{{\text{4(s)}}}}$simultaneously. A reduction / oxidation (redox) reaction occurs when one of the reactants is reduced while the other is oxidised. Such types of reactions are referred to as redox reactions.