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Mg: 2·8·2

elements · 12 / 118 · All 118

Mg

Magnesium

12
Mass 
24.305
Lifeforce 
Fire
In the body 
brain, heart, bones, muscle, dna

There is a metal in every green leaf: magnesium captures sunlight there for every plant alive. The same metal burns blinding white, hot enough to consume itself. And you carry about 25 grams of it yourself, half in bone, half in cells.

A smith's hands strike sparks from glowing embers; the sparks become tiny glowing runners.
Plate · Fire Fire never waits. It ignites whatever it touches.

Magnesium. Element twelve. Burns with a blinding white flame, hot enough to consume itself. In chlorophyll, it captures sunlight for every plant alive. The green of the world hides this metal.

Lab note · Atomic number 12; in the body ≈25 g, half in bone, half in cells.

Tool · Cosmic origin

Where your atoms come from

Mg · Star fusion

Forged in the cores of living stars over billions of years of stellar fusion.

14 of the 118 elements share this origin.

Choose a stage: click, or arrow keys. · Cosmic nucleosynthesis · current standard model

Tool · Periodic table

Your place in the system

  • Fire
  • Water
  • Air
  • Earth
  • Source

Click any element to go there.