Element Paper

Magnesium TABLE 1 Magnesium Element Magnesium Chemical symbol Mg Atomic Mass 24.3050 Atomic Number 12 Classification Alkaline Earth Metal 1 Hill, John W., and Doris K. Kolb. Chemstry For Changing Times . 11th ed. Prentice Hall, 2006. Characteristics Lightest metal, Silvery white, non-magnetic, and highly chemical ly active. 2 " Magnesium. " Encyclopedia Americana . 1999. Magnesium is the lightest structural metal and one of the most abundant elements in the Earth ' s crust 2 . In 1808 Sir Humphrey Davy (england 3 Budavari, Susan. " Magnesium. " Merck Index . 12th ed. 1996. ) obtained Magnesium in an impure state by electrolyzing magnesia and mercuric oxide and distilling the mercury from the magnesium amalgam 2 . Magnesium is found naturally only in magnesite, carnallite, dolomite, epsomite, kieserite, and the rest of its compounds 4 http://www.ktf-split.hr/periodni/en/mg.html . Ocean water is the best source of magnesium in an impure state 2 . In 1829 Antoine Bussy purified magnesium slightly further and produced a higher quantity of the metal than Davy had by heating the anhydrous magnesium chloride to redness with potassium 2 . As the forerunner of the modern electrolytic process Michael Faraday was the first to produce metallic magnesium by the electrolysis of a fused molecule of magnesium salt 2 . While Davis is credited with the discovery of magnesium it is traceable back to 1608 when it was discovered in a farmers well in Epsom England. The minerals taken from the well were used to heal scratches and minor rashes, magnesium sulfate was later coined as Epsom salt still used today 5 2008. http://www.enviroliteracy.org/article.php/1012.html . Commercial magnesium wasn ' t produced until 1866, nearly 60 years after its discovery, in Germany using a modified Bunsen electrolytic cell 2 . Beginning in World War I many countries began to produce magnesium due to their use in pyrotechnics and the need for bombs during the war 2 . The need shifted the production of magnesium from mainly being German and magnesium became widely produced 2 . Table 2 4 Physi cal Properties For Magnesium Physical Property Value Standard State Solid Color Silvery-white Melting Point 650 Boiling Point 1090 Atomic Radius 159.9 pm Abundance in Earth ' s Crust 32,000 ppm The standard state of an element is what it is most commonly found as; is it a solid, liquid, or gas. Color is of course the way the element looks. Melting point is the temperature at which the element melts changing in the case of magnesium from a solid to liquid. The boiling point is the temperature at which the solid turns into a gas. Atomic radius is the radius of one atom of the element Magnesium and the abundance in Earth ' s rust is how many parts per million of the element are found in the Earth ' s crust. The cost of pure magnesium is $3.7/100 g however if you bought magnesium in bulk it would only cost $.32/100g 6 http://chemicool.com/elements/magnesium.html . Within the Earth ' s crust Magnesium as earlier stated is the eitght most abundant element, however it is not found in its pure form. Magnesium is found in seawater and in Magnesite 5 . Commercially magnesium is used in the making of airplanes, bombs, alloys, flash bulbs, as well as many other things 2;4;5 . Magnesium is one of the most important elements in the body. Magnesium is the fpourth most abundant mineral in the body, found mainly in bones but also in tissues, organs, and blood. The amount of magnesium in your blood is very low however it helps regulate and maintain a contant heart rate, as well as a normal blood pressure, maintain a healthy immune system, keep bone structure strong, as well as over 300 other biochemical reactions in the body. In order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, magnesium should be eaten regularly through foods such as green beans, spinach, halibut, almonds, soybeans, as well as many other vegetables and nuts. Green vegetables are exceptional sources of magnesium because the center of the chlorophyll molecule contains magnesium 5 . In the environment magnesium is essential to the formation of chlorophyll molecules because there is, at the center of every molecule of chlorophyll ' s chemical structure, an ion of magnesium. Without the magnesium ion the chlorophyll molecule, plants may not be able to survive. If the plants do not survive the animals that eat the plants would die, and the animals that ate the herbivores would die, and the planet would become extinct of all life. Magnesium is important as well because the processing of magnesium creates emissions of greenhouse gases (SF 6 , HCL, CO and others) by magnesium industrial plants. One way that people could reduce the impact of magnesium on the evironment would be to recycle their used aluminum cans, however many governments are also advocating stricter standards on the emissions of SF 6 gases given off by the industrial plants 5 .