Ferrous in chemistry is a term used for the iron with an oxidation number +2. ‘Ferrous’ means materials that have a lot of iron in them. It's common for these materials to be very magnetic, but not all of them. Different types of iron and steel are more or less magnetic. High-chromium stainless steel is nearly non-magnetic, while pure iron tends to form magnets easily. Iron with impurities usually stays magnetic better than pure iron. Chemistry (from Greek χημεία khemeia[1] meaning alchemy) is the science of matter at the atomic to molecular scale, dealing primarily with collections of atoms, such as molecules, crystals, and metals. ... General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Atomic mass 55. ... In chemical nomenclature, the oxidation number (formerly known as the Stock number) of an element in a molecule or complex is the charge that it would bear if all the ligands were removed along with the electron pairs that were shared with the central atom. ...