LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Magnesium: Magnesium Oxide
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Magnesium is a ductile, silver-white, chemically active metal with a hexagonal close-packed crystalline structure. It is malleable when heated. Magnesium is one of the alkaline-earth metals in Group 2 of the periodic table. It reacts very slowly with cold water. It is not affected by dry air but tarnishes in moist air, forming a thin protective coating of basic magnesium carbonate, MgCO3·Mg(OH)2. When heated, magnesium powder or ribbon ignites and burns with an intense white light and releases large amounts of heat, forming the oxide, magnesia, MgO.
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Magnesium is a silvery white metal. The surface of magnesium metal is covered with a thin layer of oxide that helps protect the metal from attack by air. Once ignited, magnesium metal burns in air with a characteristic blinding bright white flame to give a mixture of white magnesium oxide, MgO, and magnesium nitride, Mg3N2. Magnesium oxide is more normally made by heating magnesium carbonate. Calcium, immediately below magnesium in the periodic table is more reactive with air than magnesium.
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Magnesium has a wide number of applications, both as the metal as well as a range of compounds, especially based on the oxide, MgO. Magnesium oxide is a major component of a wide range of ceramic and refractory materials used in domestic and industrial applications, and an important ingredient in various consumer products for the agricultural, horticultural and pharmaceutical sectors. Magnesium is an essential element for all living organisms, both animal and plant.
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Magnesium forms many compounds. The oxide, hydroxide, chloride, carbonate, and sulfate are commercially important. They are used in ceramics, cosmetics, fertilizers, insulation, leather tanning, and textile processing. Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate heptahydrate, MgSO4·7H2O), milk of magnesia (magnesium hydroxide, Mg(OH)2), and citrate of magnesia are used in medicine. Magnesium reacts with organic halides to form the Grignard reagents of organic chemistry.
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Magnesium is available in chelated (bound to) combinations such as alpha-ketogluconate, aspartate, glycinate, lysinate, orotate, taurate and others. Inorganic or ionic magnesiums include sulphate, oxide, citrate, carbonate, bicarbonate and chloride. Some supplement companies make so-called chelated magnesiums but the chelate (bound to) is partial and the raw material contains some percentage of ionized, unbound or inorganic magnesium. Ionized magnesium may cause diarrhea in many users and, therefore, not correct a cellular magnesium deficiency. Diarrhea, or soft stools, caused by any form of magnesium can make a magnesium deficiency worse.
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Magnesium Oxide, magnesia, MgO, occurs native as the mineral periclase, and is formed when magnesium burns in air; it may ... be prepared by the gentle ignition of the hydroxide or carbonate. It is a non-volatile and almost infusible white powder, which slowly absorbs moisture and carbon dioxide from air, and is readily soluble in dilute acids. On account of its refractory nature, it is employed in the manufacture of crucibles, furnace linings, &c. It is also used in making hydraulic cements. A crystalline form was obtained by M. Houdard (Abst. J. C. S., 1907, ii.
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Magnesium Oxide