Iron Atom

It's interesting to me how integral certain natural atoms are to the workings of the human body, yet upon viewing the substance in a real world, visual form, it looks so starkly different to our biology. For example the iron atom - it's so essential to the proper functioning of our human bodies, but when you see iron in solid form, it's this:

actually, this picture is more accurate as the previous one is a 'mostly' iron, so it's mixed with other elements, but this is 100% iron:

It's such a hard, un-human looking thing. Yet without it you couldn't say alive. Tiny iron atoms form part of our blood's haemoglobin - iron atoms are essential in transporting oxygen throughout your body.

Interesting Facts:

• 5.6% of the earth's crust and almost ALL of the Earth's core is made up of iron.
• Iron is formed via fusion in STARS that have sufficient mass. The sun and many other stars contain significant amounts of iron. (doesn't this mean that our planet is not produing new iron; that all the iron on Earth and within our bodies are remnants from stellar fusions that occurred during Earth's galactic history?)
• Our bodies have to be very scrupuluos in regards to iron uptake and regulation because it has no regulated means of excreting iron. Some iron is lost through 'mucosal and skin epithelial cell sloughing' (ie, shedding skin and menstruation) but these are not regulated processes, so if your body has too much iron, there is no way for your body to get rid of it. "20 milligrams of iron per kilogram of body weight is toxic, while 60 milligrams per kilogram is lethal." (interesting how not enough iron will kill you & too much iron will kill you)
• The melting point for iron is 1808 K (1535 degrees C / 2795 degrees F)
• The boiling point for iron is 3023 K (2750 degrees C / 4982 degrees F)