MAGNESIO

Discovery of magnesium

Joseph Black in 1755 identified magnesium as an element. Sir Humphrey Davy isolated pure magnesium in 1808. Many chemists believed lime (calcium oxide) and magnesia (magnesium oxide) were the same substance. Both were produced by heating limestone and magnesite. Black showed they each had different chemical properties. Magnesia contained an unknown element similar to calcium. Just over 50 years later, Davy separated magnesium from an amalgam of magnesia and mercury using electrolysis

Facts and curiosities about magnesium

• 60% of the magnesium found in your body is found in your skeletal system.

• Magnesium burns very brightly and is used in fireworks to make white sparkles.

• Magnesium is added to alloys to reduce weight of aluminum materials.

• The metal can be mixed with other metals, particularly aluminum, for use in making car bodies, drink cans and other items that need to be light and strong

• During World War II, the element was even used to make incendiary bombs

Magnesium could be a source of fuel on Mars exploration

Suppose astronauts reach Mars. How do they explore the planet if they cannot weigh down the vessel with fuel for excursions?. A team of undergraduate aerospace engineering students at the University of Michigan is doing research to help astronauts make fuel once they get to Mars, and the results could bring scientists one step closer to manned or extended rover trips to the planet. The students conducted zero-gravity experiments using iodine as a catalyst to burn magnesium. Magnesium is a metal found on Mars that can be harvested for fuel. Fossil fuels don’t burn on Mars because of the planet’s carbon dioxide (CO2) atmosphere, but metals do burn in a CO2 atmosphere

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