Very bright possibly.
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Well I suppose it would last longer than a regular comet tooβ¦
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This may be a dumb question but:
When no water is present, at atmospheric pressure and oxygen level, any temperature below irons boiling point, is elemental iron able to be oxidized to Fe2O3 (Rust), or does will it only oxidize to Fe3O4 (Magnetite)?
The (lack of) presence of water is important to the question, it obviously forms in humid conditions.
Wikipedia says rusts if formed catalytically with water, but Iβm still unclear whether Fe2O3 never forms at all or what, especially under elevated conditions.
Edit: Removed anecdotes for brevity and privacy
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I am not sure if this answers your question. I found something on Quora:
https://www.quora.com/Is-it-possible-to-form-rust-at-high-temperatures-in-the-absence-of-water-Isnt-hydrogen-required-to-form-Rust
Studied Materials Science and Engineering at San Jose State UniversityAuthor has 1.1K answers and 680.4K answer viewsApr 5
Originally Answered: Can high temperatures cause rusting or corrosion of metals like iron and steel without any contact with moisture or corrosive liquids? If so, what is the reason for this occurrence?
Yes, this can happen for iron/steel at temperatures around 700βC. It happens due to direct chemical reaction with atmospheric oxygen, forming different iron oxides or βscalesβ on the surface, like FeO, Fe2O3, and Fe3O4. The rate of direct oxidation of iron and steel increases with temperature. Iβm not exactly sure about this, but the exact mechanism probably has to due with atomic vibration of iron/oxygen at high temperature that allows electrons to loosen and transfer into a mutual bond between iron and oxygen β either ionic or covalent. Itβs most likely due to atomic vibration of iron, since oxygen is already highly electronegative and prefers to βgrabβ electrons. However, the double bond in O2(g) still needs to be broken up as well, for monoatomic oxygen, O(g) to react with iron. In any case, it takes high heat to do this without water or some other βcatalystβ.
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Water allows iron and other stuff to become ions that then turn into rust which I can imagine would be a lot harder in air, especially dry air. It could still be possible but at very small amounts.