Magnesium is a shiny gray solid which shares many physical properties with other alkaline earth metals.
Core Principles & Analysis
Joseph Black distinguished magnesia from lime in 1755, and Humphry Davy isolated magnesium metal by electrolysis in 1808.
At 1.74 g/cm3 it is the lightest metal used structurally, burns with a blinding white light, and sits at the center of every chlorophyll molecule.
Magnesium alloys lighten car parts, aircraft, and laptop cases, while its compounds serve as antacids and its ribbons and powders as flares and igniters.