For Questions That Don't Merit Their Own Thread

KG3 's solution is technically correct, and is one type of thermite reaction (the other being Iron (III) Oxide instead of Iron (II) oxide). However, peadar1987 is still correct, you would still need about 5.7MJ of energy in a 100% efficient conversion. It's just that in this instance that energy is provided by the reaction of:

2 AL + 3 O --> AL2O3 + (lovetons of heat)

The result would be a crucible (You are doing this in a crucible, right?) that, assuming it hasn't exploded due to containing a 2,500oC flame, is now full of molten aluminium oxide slag and little pellets of iron that are really, really hot.

Regarding the magnetism of rust, peadar1987 is pretty much correct. What we conventionally call rust (the red stuff) is, to all intents and purposes, essentially non-magnetic. Conventional 'red' rust is Iron (III) oxide, or Fe2O3, in a hydrated matrix written as Fe2O3.H2O. The Fe2O3 crystal by itself is called haematite and is itself basically non-magnetic but will very, very weakly respond to an external magnetic field. The hydrated form (red rust) is also itself non-magnetic, but as it has that haematite core unit will still respond to an external magnetic field. However, this response is so weak that it requires really powerful electromagnets to generate.

To summarise though, red rust isn't magnetic in the everyday sense.For Questions That Don't Merit Their Own Thread

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