Discovery date : 1774
Discovered by: Johan Gottlieb Gahn
Origin of the name: The derivation of Manganese may have come from one of two routes:
either from the Latin 'magnes',meaning magnet, or from the black magnesium oxide, 'magnesia nigra'.
Allotropes :
~>MANGANESE is a chemical element with symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is not found as a free element in nature; it is often found in minerals in combination with iron.
| FACT BOX | |||
| Group | 7 | Melting point | 1246°C, 2275°F, 1519 K |
| Period | 4 | Boiling point | 2061°C, 3742°F, 2334 K |
| Block | d | Density (g cm−3) | 7.3 |
| Atomic number | 25 | Relative atomic mass | 54.938 |
| State at 20°C | Solid | Key isotopes | 55Mn |
| Electron configuration | [Ar] 3d54s2 | CAS number | 7439-96-5 |
| ChemSpider ID | 22372 | ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database | |
Manganese in the form of the black ore pyrolucite (manganese dioxide, MnO2) was used by the pre-historic cave painters of the Lascaux region of France around 30,000 years ago. In more recent times was used by glass makers to remove the pale greenish tint of natural glass.
In 1740, the Berlin glass technologist Johann Heinrich Pott investigated it chemically and showed that it contained no iron as has been assumed. From it he was able to make potassium permanganate (KMnO4), one of the strongest oxidising agents known. Several chemists in the 1700s tried unsuccessfully to isolate the metal component in pyrolusite. The first person to do this was the Swedish chemist and mineralogist Johan Gottlieb Gahn in 1774. However, a student at Vienna, Ignatius Kaim, had already described how he had produced manganese metal, in his dissertation written in 1771.