Magnesium

Not to be confused with Manganese

Position of magnesium in the periodic table.

Sample of magnesium.

Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray solid which shares many physical and chemical properties with the other five alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic table). It 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). It is also the third most abundant element dissolved in seawater, after sodium and chlorine, and the eleventh most abundant element by mass in the human body.

Uses

Magnesium is less dense than aluminum, and the alloy of the two is prized for its combination of lightness and strength.

Dependencies

• Aluminum
• Magnesium

See also

• Copper
• Gold
• Iron
• Lead
• Manganese
• Nickel
• Potassium
• Tin
• Titanium
• Zinc
• Chemical elements

References

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Magnesium, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).