Sunday, 29 June 2025

30 June: Magnesium

On 30 June 1808 Humphrey Davy reported to the Royal Society that he had successfully isolated four new metals, one of which was magnesium. Here are 10 things you might not know about magnesium:

  1. First of all, what is it? It’s a grey-white metal with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12.

  2. Magnesium is the eighth-most-abundant element in the Earth's crust by mass.

  3. The name comes from the Greek word for places in Turkey where the Magnetes tribe lived; either a district in Thessaly called Magnesia or Magnesia ad Sipylum.

  4. Magnesium is the third-most-commonly-used metal for building things, after Iron and Aluminium. As it is less dense than either of these, it’s used a lot in aerospace construction. It was used for German military aircraft as early as World War I, and it was the Germans who first coined the word elektron for a magnesium alloy.

  5. Magnesium has the lowest melting (923 K (650 °C)) and the lowest boiling point (1,363 K (1,090 °C)) of all the alkaline earth metals.

  6. Epsom salts are actually magnesium sulphate. Epsom salts were discovered in 1618 by a farmer in Epsom, Surrey, who noticed that his Cows refused to drink from a particular well because the water tasted bitter. That water did however, have healing properties and the stuff left over when the Water evaporated became known as Epsom salts.

  7. In 1808, Davy used electrolysis on a mixture of magnesia and mercuric oxide to isolate the metal. His suggestion for a name was 'magnium', but the name magnesium is now used in most European languages.

  8. It’s a vital nutrient and plays a role in regulating blood pressure and Heart rate, controlling Blood sugar and the making of DNA and protein. In the UK, the recommended daily values by the Dietary Reference Intake for magnesium are 300 mg for men and 270 mg for women. Spices, nuts, cereals, Cocoa and green, leafy vegetables are good sources of magnesium.

  9. Plants also need it to make cholorophyll.

  10. World production was approximately 1,100 kt in 2017, with the bulk being produced in China and Russia.


Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)


Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.


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