History:
Magnesium's first appearance in the world of science surprisingly came about due to a farmer and his cows. A farmer at Epsom in 1618 attempted to feed his cows some water but because of its bitter taste the cows refused to drink it. The farmer saw that the water was actually healing scratches and rashes. Eventually word of this Epsom salt spread and it was decided that it was MgSO4 (magnesium sulfate). The first isolation ever of magnesium was done by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1808 when he electrolyzed a mixture of magnesia (magnesium oxide, MgO) and mercuric oxide (HgO). The originally suggested name by Davy was magnium but it was eventually called magnesium.
|
Discovered by: |
Sir Humphrey Davy |
|
|
Discovered at: |
England |
|
|
Discovered when: |
1755
|
|
|
Origin of name: |
From the Greek word "Magnesia", a
district of Thessaly |
|
http://www.webelements.com/webelements/elements/text/Mg/key.html
visit www.allatoms.com