Question

Iron the most widely used metal is never used in its pure state

Answer 1

Iron is rarely used in its pure form because pure iron is too soft.

Pure iron is very soft and can be easily shaped because of certain property of its atoms.

The atoms are arranged in a way so that layers of atoms are placed one on top of the other.

This accounts for the softness of pure iron.

Answer 2

Pure iron is soft and very malleable (elastic) and is able to stretch a lot and it is also ductile. It can rust (oxidize) readily in moist air. It is also fairly reactive. Pure iron has little use - some for analytical chemistry and some in medicine. It is made much more useful by alloying it with other materials. Due to these drawbacks iron is not used in pure state.