the.com/magnesium
the muscle relaxant that lets stars die spectacularly and your sleep happen quietly
means A light, silvery-white metallic element (symbol Mg, atomic number 12) essential to life, that burns with a brilliant white flame and plays a role in muscle and nerve function.
from Named for Magnesia, a district in Thessaly, Greece, whose mineral-rich earth gave its name to a whole family of substances. The Greek 'Magnesia lithos' ('stone of Magnesia') was a confusingly generic label — it referred to several different ores, which is why magnesium shares its birthplace with manganese and even the magnet (the 'lodestone' was another Magnesian rock). Sir Humphry Davy isolated the metal in the early 19th century and gave it the scientific '-ium' ending. So the modern element carries the name of an ancient Greek place that, in a sense, lent its earth to half the periodic table's confusion.
- flare risk
- Burns blindingly white at 3,100°C, nearly impossible to extinguish
- body count
- Powers over 300 enzyme reactions inside you right now
- star forge
- Made by dying stars fusing heavier and heavier elements
- old flash
- Lit early photography with explosive magnesium powder bursts
- light alloy
- Lighter than aluminum, builds race cars and aircraft
dead sea — contains 1.5% magnesium by weight, highest concentration in any major body of water
chlorophyll molecule — magnesium atom at its center enables photosynthesis in all plants
epsom salt — magnesium sulfate compound, used therapeutically since 17th century english spa town