From being a crucial building block of steel to nourishing plants and helping carry oxygen in your blood, iron is always busy helping sustain life on Earth. (Source: Live Science) According to archaeologists, people have been using iron for more than 5,000 years. Read the Jefferson Lab website for more details about that. How is iron obtained? From minerals hematite and magnetite. In smaller degrees, it can also be obtained from the minerals taconite, limonite and siderite. How is iron used?…