The Importance and Uses of Magnesium

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In chemistry and in our world there are elements that are needed for survival in our everyday life, and one essential element that both humans and plants need is magnesium. Magnesium is an alkaline earth metal that is the second element found in group two on the periodic table. Magnesium is an important element that is used in our everyday society and found in the industry, agriculture, research, and medical areas.
Magnesium is a hard, silvery-white metal that is the lightest weight element used for making objects that need to have a strong metal to keep it together. Its symbol is Mg and its atomic number, the number of protons found in the nucleus of an atom, is twelve (“Magnesium” Periodic). Magnesium is one of the more commonly used elements in our world because it is the eleventh-most-abundant element in the human body and the eighth-most-abundant element in the Earth’s crust. It was discovered in the 1755 by a Scottish physician and chemist named Joseph Black. He did many experiments on magnesium compounds to find that having magnesium combined with other elements would create many useful compounds, which is when two elements are mixed together (Newton).
Many of the compounds created from magnesium are helpful in the industry fields. One of the most common magnesium compounds is Magnesium Sulfate (MgSO4). This combination is also known as Epson salt (Newton). It’s useful in the textile industry for fireproofing and leather-processes. (“Magnesium” Infoplease). Some compounds found in the industry field are Magnesium Silicate, Oxide, Carbonate, and Chloride. The Magnesium Silicate compound is a good material for manufacturing plastic, paint, and mostly paper. Without Magnesium Silicate we wouldn’t have talc in books. Talc i...

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...hown that high dieting in Magnesium can increase HDL-Cholesterol. By increasing a person’s HDL-Cholesterol is good for fighting coronary artery diseases and can lessen the chance of getting a heart attack (Center).

Works Cited

Center for Magnesium Education & Research, LLC. n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.

“Magnesium.” Infoplease. 2014. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.

“Magnesium.” Periodic Table. Royal Society of Chemistry. 2014. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.

“Magnesium.” Today’s Science. Infobase Learning, Web. 16 Apr. 2014.

Mikkelsen, Robert. “Soil and Fertilizer Magnesium.” Better Crops 94.2 (2010): 26-27. Illinois Association of Aggregate Producers. 2006. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.

Newton, David E. Chemical Elements from Carbon to Krypton. Vol. 2. Ed. Lawrence W. Baker. Detroit: UXL, 1999. Print.

Uttley, Colin. Magnesium. The Elements. New York: Benchmark, 2000. Print.

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