ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Iron pillar of Delhi

Okay, so there is this really tall and strong pillar in Delhi called the Iron Pillar. It's made of iron, which is a metal that is usually used to make things like cars, but this pillar is over a thousand years old!

Back then, people didn't know how to make iron things that wouldn't rust, or oxidize, which means that they would get all yucky and fall apart. But this pillar is special because it was made in a way that makes it rust-resistant!

It's a really tall pillar, like a tower, and it's almost 23 feet high! That's like two basketball hoops stacked on top of each other. It's also really heavy, like as heavy as three really big elephants. Even though it's made of iron, it looks kind of smooth and shiny because of how it was made.

People aren't quite sure how they made the Iron Pillar so strong and rust-resistant so long ago. Some people think that they made it by crushing really good quality iron into a paste and then heating it up so it got even stronger. Others think they used techniques like coating the metal with oil or burning certain herbs to make it rust-resistant.

The Iron Pillar is really special because it's one of the oldest known examples of rust-resistant iron. Even after over a thousand years, it still stands tall and strong in Delhi!