As soon as it is exposed to the air it veils itself
with a thin film of rust and becomes black and then red. For that reason
there is practically no iron in the world except what man has made. It
is rarer than gold, than diamonds; we find in the earth no nuggets or
crystals of it the size of the fist as we find of these. But
occasionally there fall down upon us out of the clear sky great chunks
of it weighing tons. These meteorites are the mavericks of the universe.
We do not know where they come from or what sun or planet they belonged
to. They are our only visitors from space, and if all the other spheres
are like these fragments we know we are alone in the universe. For they
contain rustless iron, and where iron does not rust man cannot live, nor
can any other animal or any plant.
Iron rusts for the same reason that a stone rolls down hill, because it
gets rid of its energy that way. All things in the universe are
constantly trying to get rid of energy except man, who is always trying
to get more of it.
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