Thank you for visiting nature. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer. In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. Magnesium is commonly found in rocks and sea water as well as living organisms. Paul Knochel relates how this element has also sparked a great deal of interest among chemists.
One of the most abundant elements on Earth the sixth in order of weight abundance , magnesium occurs naturally in crustal rocks, mainly in the form of insoluble carbonates, sulfates and silicates.
Its name derives from the Magnesia district of Thessaly, where the soft white mineral steatite talc — a hydrated magnesium silicate — was found in ancient Greece. Elemental magnesium is a fairly strong, silvery white, light-weight metal. It tarnishes slightly in air, and is thus protected against further oxidation by a thin impermeable layer of oxide. Magnesium reacts exothermically with most acids, and with water at room temperature to give magnesium hydroxide and hydrogen.
It is a very flammable metal, able to burn in both nitrogen and carbon dioxide, and famously creates a brilliant white light on burning in air. This resulted in its use as a source of illumination in early photography. It is still employed in flash bulbs, and in fireworks to produce brighter sparks.
Its very low density 1. Magnesium ions are also widely present in the basic nucleic acid chemistry of life. It is vital to the cells or enzymes of living organisms for synthesizing adenosine triphosphate, DNA and RNA, as well as to green plants — chlorophylls, which are responsible for photosynthesis, are magnesium-centred porphyrins. This also means that it is a common additive in fertilizers, and is used in medicine. For example 'milk of magnesia', a white aqueous solution of magnesium hydroxide, is commonly used as a laxative and an antacid.
Although it is the eighth most abundant element in the universe and the seventh most abundant element in the earth's crust , magnesium is never found free in nature. Magnesium was first isolated by Sir Humphry Davy, an English chemist, through the electrolysis of a mixture of magnesium oxide MgO and mercuric oxide HgO in Every cubic kilometer of seawater contains about 1. Magnesium burns with a brilliant white light and is used in pyrotechnics, flares and photographic flashbulbs.
Magnesium is the lightest metal that can be used to build things, although its use as a structural material is limited since it burns at relatively low temperatures. Magnesium is frequently alloyed with aluminum , which makes aluminum easier to roll, extrude and weld. Magnesium-aluminum alloys are used where strong, lightweight materials are required, such as in airplanes, missiles and rockets. Cameras, horseshoes, baseball catchers' masks and snowshoes are other items that are made from magnesium alloys.
Magnesium oxide MgO , also known as magnesia, is the second most abundant compound in the earth's crust. It's the eighth-most abundant element in the universe, according to the U. Geological Survey. On Earth, magnesium is found both in the crust and in the mantle; it's also the third-most abundant mineral dissolved in seawater, with a 0.
After Davy isolated magnesium in , several scientists worked to purify the metal using various methods, according to the USGS. It wasn't until , though, that an electrolysis method, developed by Robert Bunsen inventor of the Bunsen burner , made industrial production possible. Magnesium burns too easily to be used widely for building, according to the Jefferson Lab, but when mixed with aluminum, it creates an alloy that is strong, light and easy to work with.
Magnesium also has biological uses. It's part of chlorophyll, the green pigment that plants use to extract energy from sunlight. The element is also crucial to more than biological processes in the human body, according to the U. National Library of Medicine. Adult women should take in about milligrams of magnesium a day, and adult men milligrams, according to the NLM.
Fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes and whole grains are good sources. Doctors sometime recommend magnesium supplements for a variety of medical conditions, including high blood pressure, premenstrual syndrome and diabetes.
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