Editing Magnesium (section)

== History ==
The name magnesium originates from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] word for locations related to the tribe of the [[Magnetes]], either a district in [[Thessaly]] called [[Ancient Magnesia|Magnesia]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.webelements.com/magnesium/history.html |title=Magnesium: historical information |publisher=webelements.com |access-date=9 October 2014}}</ref> or [[Magnesia ad Sipylum]], now in Turkey.<ref name="LanguageHAt">{{cite web |last1=languagehat |title=Magnet |url=http://languagehat.com/magnet/ |website=languagehat.com |access-date=18 June 2020 |language=en |date=28 May 2005}}</ref> It is related to [[magnetite]] and [[manganese]], which also originated from this area, and required differentiation as separate substances. See [[manganese]] for this history.

In 1618, a farmer at Epsom in England attempted to give his cows water from a local well. The cows refused to drink because of the water's bitter taste, but the farmer noticed that the water seemed to heal scratches and rashes. The substance obtained by evaporating the water became known as [[Magnesium sulfate|Epsom salts]] and its fame spread.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Ainsworth|first1=Steve|title=Epsom's deep bath|journal=Nurse Prescribing|date=1 June 2013|volume=11|issue=6|page=269|doi=10.12968/npre.2013.11.6.269}}</ref> It was eventually recognized as hydrated magnesium sulfate, {{chem|MgSO|4}}·7{{hsp}}{{chem|H|2|O}}.<ref>{{Cite web |last=PubChem |title=Magnesium Sulfate Heptahydrate |url=https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/24843 |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov |language=en}}</ref>

The metal itself was first isolated by [[Humphry Davy|Sir Humphry Davy]] in England in 1808. He used electrolysis on a mixture of [[magnesia alba|magnesia]] and [[Mercury(II) oxide|mercuric oxide]].<ref name="Davy1808">{{cite journal| last = Davy | first = H. | date= 1808 | title = Electro-chemical researches on the decomposition of the earths; with observations on the metals obtained from the alkaline earths, and on the amalgam procured from ammonia | journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London | volume = 98 | pages = 333–370|bibcode = 1808RSPT...98..333D | jstor=107302 | doi=10.1098/rstl.1808.0023| s2cid = 96364168 }}</ref> [[Antoine Bussy]] prepared it in coherent form in 1831. Davy's first suggestion for a name was 'magnium',<ref name="Davy1808" /> but the name magnesium is now used in most European languages.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Magnesium (Mg) - Periodic Table |url=https://www.periodictable.one/element/12 |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=www.periodictable.one |language=en}}</ref>

Further discoveries about magnesium were made by the father of [[physical chemistry]] in [[Imperial Russia]], [[Nikolai Beketov]] (1827-1911), who established that magnesium and zinc displaced other metals from their salts under high temperatures.