Editing Magnesium (section)

====Source of light====
{{anchor|Flammability}}Magnesium is flammable, burning at a temperature of approximately {{convert|3100|°C|K °F|abbr=on}},<ref name="Dreizin, Edward L.; Berman, Charles H. and Vicenzi, Edward P. 2000 30" /> and the [[autoignition temperature]] of magnesium ribbon is approximately {{convert|473|°C|K °F|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite web| title=Magnesium (Powder)| work=International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS)| publisher = IPCS INCHEM |date=April 2000 |url=http://www.inchem.org/documents/icsc/icsc/eics0289.htm| access-date=21 December 2011}}</ref> Magnesium's high combustion temperature makes it a useful tool for starting emergency fires. When burning in air, magnesium produces a brilliant white light that includes strong ultraviolet wavelengths. 

Magnesium powder ([[flash powder]]) was used for subject illumination in the early days of [[photography]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hannavy |first1=John |title=Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-87327-1 |page=84 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3E3AQAAMAAJ|title=Scientific American: Supplement|year=1899|publisher=Munn and Company|volume=48|page=20035}}</ref> Magnesium filament used in electrically ignited single-use photography [[Flash (photography)#Flashbulbs|flashbulbs]] replaced this usage eventually.   Magnesium powder is used in [[fireworks]] and marine [[flare]]s where a brilliant light is required, and in trick self-relighting birthday candles. It was also used for various theatrical effects,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_gQkEAAAAMBAJ|title=Billboard|year=1974|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_gQkEAAAAMBAJ/page/n19 20]}}</ref> such as lightning,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Altman |first1=Rick |title=Silent Film Sound |date=2004 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-11663-3 |page=41 }}</ref> pistol flashes,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lindsay |first1=David |title=Madness in the Making: The Triumphant Rise and Untimely Fall of America's Show Inventors |date=2005 |publisher=iUniverse |isbn=978-0-595-34766-7 |page=210 }}</ref> and supernatural appearances.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McCormick |first1=John |last2=Pratasik |first2=Bennie |title=Popular Puppet Theatre in Europe, 1800-1914 |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-61615-7 |page=106 }}</ref>

Magnesium is often used to ignite thermite or other materials that require a high ignition temperature. Magnesium continues to be used as an [[Incendiary device|incendiary]] element in warfare.<ref>{{cite web| title=9N510 (ML-5) Submunition|url=https://cat-uxo.com/explosive-hazards/submunitions/9n510-ml-5-submunition|access-date=22 November 2022|publisher= Collective Awareness to UXO}}</ref>[[File:Magnesium Sparks.jpg|thumb|Magnesium firestarter (in left hand), used with a [[pocket knife]] and [[flint]] to create sparks that ignite the shavings]]

Flame temperatures of magnesium and magnesium alloys can reach {{convert|3100|C|F|abbr=on}},<ref name="Dreizin, Edward L.; Berman, Charles H. and Vicenzi, Edward P. 2000 30">{{cite journal|title=Condensed-phase modifications in magnesium particle combustion in air|author=Dreizin, Edward L.|author2=Berman, Charles H.|author3=Vicenzi, Edward P.|name-list-style=amp|journal=Scripta Materialia|volume=122|issue=1–2|doi=10.1016/S0010-2180(00)00101-2|date=2000|pages=30–42|bibcode=2000CoFl..122...30D |citeseerx=10.1.1.488.2456}}</ref> although flame height above the burning metal is usually less than {{convert|300|mm|in|abbr=on}}.<ref name="DOE">{{cite book |title=DOE Handbook – Primer on Spontaneous Heating and Pyrophoricity |publisher=[[United States Department of Energy]] |id=DOE-HDBK-1081-94 |date=December 1994 |page=20 |url=http://www.hss.doe.gov/nuclearsafety/techstds/docs/handbook/hbk1081c.html#ZZ22  |access-date   = 21 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415172328/http://www.hss.doe.gov/nuclearsafety/techstds/docs/handbook/hbk1081c.html#ZZ22 |archive-date=15 April 2012 |url-status=dead
}}</ref> Once ignited, such fires are difficult to extinguish because they resist several substances commonly used to put out fires; combustion continues in [[nitrogen]] (forming [[magnesium nitride]]),<ref name="Brauer">{{cite book |last1=Ehrlich |first1=P. |editor1-last=Brauer |editor1-first=Georg |title=Handbook of Preparative Inorganic Chemistry 1 |date=December 1, 1963 |publisher=Academic Press |location=New York, London |isbn=978-0121266011 |pages=916–917 |edition=Second |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/Handbook_of_Preparative_Inorganic_Chemistry_1_2_Brauer/page/n939/mode/2up |access-date=29 March 2025 |language=en |chapter=Section 17: Alkaline Earth Metals}}</ref> in [[carbon dioxide]] (forming [[magnesium oxide]] and [[carbon]]),<ref name=CO2/> and in water (forming magnesium oxide and hydrogen, which also combusts due to heat in the presence of additional oxygen). This property{{which?|reason=Were there giant swimming pools, CO2 pits, and Nitrogen refineries everywhere?|date=March 2025}}  was used in incendiary weapons during the [[firebombing]] of cities in [[World War II]], where the only practical [[civil defense]] was to smother a burning flare under dry sand{{why?|reason=Magnesium exothermically reacts with sand to produce the silicide;  proper extinguishers are salt based|date=March 2025}} to exclude atmosphere from the combustion.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}