What was magnesium first used for

Problem nutrients in the United States. Food Technology. Dietary magnesium and C-reactive protein levels. Accessed November 6, About the Misdiagnosis of Magnesium Deficiency. Journal of the American College of Nutrition. Improving Magnesium Absorption and Bioavailability. Geriatric Times. Accessed February 10, Oral versus intravenous magnesium supplementation in patients with magnesium deficiency.

Magnesium and Trace Elements. Magnesium therapy in cardiovascular disease. Divalent Cation Metabolism: Magnesium. In: Schrier R, series editor. Atlas of Diseases of the Kidney. Volume 1. Wiley-Blackwell; 4. The Nutrition Notebook.

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The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. Delay of natural bone loss by higher intakes of specific minerals and vitamins.

Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. Magnesium and diabetes mellitus: their relation. During World War II, the element was even used to make incendiary bombs. Magnesium is born in stars, when, under extreme temperatures, helium and neon fuse. It's the eighth-most abundant element in the universe, according to the U.

Geological Survey. On Earth, magnesium is found both in the crust and in the mantle; it's also the third-most abundant mineral dissolved in seawater, with a 0. After Davy isolated magnesium in , several scientists worked to purify the metal using various methods, according to the USGS.

It wasn't until , though, that an electrolysis method, developed by Robert Bunsen inventor of the Bunsen burner , made industrial production possible. Magnesium burns too easily to be used widely for building, according to the Jefferson Lab, but when mixed with aluminum, it creates an alloy that is strong, light and easy to work with.

Magnesium also has biological uses. It's part of chlorophyll, the green pigment that plants use to extract energy from sunlight. The element is also crucial to more than biological processes in the human body, according to the U. National Library of Medicine. Adult women should take in about milligrams of magnesium a day, and adult men milligrams, according to the NLM.

Magnesium-aluminum alloys are used where strong, lightweight materials are required, such as in airplanes, missiles and rockets. Cameras, horseshoes, baseball catchers' masks and snowshoes are other items that are made from magnesium alloys.

Magnesium oxide MgO , also known as magnesia, is the second most abundant compound in the earth's crust. Magnesium oxide is used in some antacids, in making crucibles and insulating materials, in refining some metals from their ores and in some types of cements.

When combined with water H 2 O , magnesia forms magnesium hydroxide Mg OH 2 , better known as milk of magnesia, which is commonly used as an antacid and as a laxative.

He tasted the water and found that it tasted very bitter. He also noticed that it helped heal scratches and rashes on his skin. Epsom salt is still used today to treat minor skin abrasions. Magnesium carbonate is used to make some types of paints and inks and is added to table salt to prevent caking.