magnesium
Sign in to saveMagnesium is a chemical element; it has symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point, and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic table), it occurs naturally only in combination with other elements and almost always has an oxidation state of +2. It reacts readily with air to form a thin passivation coating of magnesium oxide that inhibits further corrosion of the metal. The free metal burns with a brilliant-white light. The metal is obtained mainly by electrolysis of magnesium salts obtained fro
AI overview
Magnesium is a lightweight, shiny gray metal that is highly reactive and naturally occurs only in combination with other elements. It's useful in various applications because of its low density and low melting point, and it can be extracted mainly through electrolysis of magnesium salts.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
50 sectionsContents
- Characteristics
- Physical properties
- Chemical properties
- Oxidation
- Reaction with water
- Organic chemistry
- Detection in solution
- Forms
- Alloys
- Corrosion
- High-temperature creep and flammability
- Compounds
- Isotopes
- Production
- Occurrence
- Production quantities
- Pidgeon and Bolzano processes
- Dow process
- Carbothermic process
- YSZ process
- Rieke process
- History
- Uses
- Magnesium metal
- Aircraft
- Automotive
- Electronics
- Source of light
- Chemical reagent
- Other
- Compounds
- Biological roles
- Mechanism of action
- Nutrition
- Diet
- Dietary recommendations
- Supplementation
- Metabolism
- Detection in serum and plasma
- Deficiency
- Therapy
- Other medical applications
- Overdose
- Function in plants
- Safety precautions
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Cited sources
- External links
Magnesium is a chemical element; it has symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point, and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic table), it occurs naturally only in combination with other elements and almost always has an oxidation state of +2. It reacts readily with air to form a thin passivation coating of magnesium oxide that inhibits further corrosion of the metal. The free metal burns with a brilliant-white light. The metal is obtained mainly by electrolysis of magnesium salts obtained from brine. It is less dense than aluminium and is used primarily as a component in strong and lightweight alloys that contain aluminium.
In the cosmos, magnesium is produced in large, aging stars by the sequential addition of three helium nuclei to a carbon nucleus. When such stars explode as supernovas, much of the magnesium is expelled into the interstellar medium, where it may recycle into new star systems. Magnesium is the eighth most abundant element in the Earth's crust and the fourth most common element in the Earth (after iron, oxygen and silicon), making up 13% of the planet's mass and a large fraction of the planet's mantle. It is the third most abundant element dissolved in seawater, after sodium and chlorine.