MG

Magnesium (IPA: /magˈniːziəm, -ʒəm/) is the chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Mg and atomic number 12 and an atomic mass of 24.31. more...

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Magnesium is the eighth most abundant element and constitutes about 2% of the Earth's crust by weight, and it is the third most plentiful element dissolved in seawater. Magnesium ion is essential to all living cells. The free element (metal) is not found in nature. Once produced from magnesium salts, this alkaline earth metal is primarily used as an alloying agent to make aluminium-magnesium alloys, sometimes called "magnalium" or "magnelium".

Isotopes

²⁶Mg is a stable isotope that has found application in isotopic geology, similar to that of aluminium. ²⁶Mg is a radiogenic daughter product of ²⁶Al, which has a half-life of 717,000 years. Large enrichments of stable ²⁶Mg have been observed in the Ca-Al-rich inclusions of some carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. The anomalous abundance of ²⁶Mg is attributed to the decay of its parent ²⁶Al in the inclusions. Therefore, the meteorite must have formed in the solar nebula before the ²⁶Al had decayed. Hence, these fragments are among the oldest objects in the solar system and have preserved information about it early history.

It is conventional to plot ²⁶Mg/²⁴Mg against an Al/Mg ratio. In an isochron dating plot, the Al/Mg ratio plotted is²⁷Al/²⁴Mg. The slope of the isochron has no age significance, but indicates the initial ²⁶Al/²⁷Al ratio in the sample at the time when the systems were separated from a common reservoir.

Notable characteristics of element and compounds

Elemental magnesium is a fairly strong, silvery-white, light-weight metal (two thirds the density of aluminium). It slightly tarnishes when exposed to air, although unlike the alkaline metals, storage in an oxygen free environment is unnecessary because magnesium is protected by a thin layer of oxide which is fairly impermeable and hard to remove. Like its lower periodic table group neighbor calcium, magnesium reacts with water at room temperature, though it reacts much more slowly than calcium. When it is submerged in water hydrogen bubbles will almost unnoticably begin to form on the surface of the metal, though if powdered it will react much more rapidly. The reaction will occur faster with higher temperatures (see precautions). Magnesium is a highly flammable metal, but while it is easy to ignite when powdered or shaved into thin strips, it is difficult to ignite in mass or bulk. Once ignited it is difficult to extinguish, being able to burn in both nitrogen (forming magnesium nitride), and carbon dioxide (forming magnesium oxide and carbon).

Read more at Wikipedia.org