South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and it is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, the remaining population consists of Africas largest communities of European and multiracial ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a variety of cultures, languages. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the recognition of 11 official languages. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup détat, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a role in the countrys recent history. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation, since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the countrys democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces.
South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation to describe the multicultural diversity. The World Bank classifies South Africa as an economy. Its economy is the second-largest in Africa, and the 34th-largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, South Africa has the seventh-highest per capita income in Africa. However and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed, South Africa has been identified as a middle power in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence. The name South Africa is derived from the geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, since 1961 the long form name in English has been the Republic of South Africa. In Dutch the country was named Republiek van Zuid-Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika, since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Mzansi, derived from the Xhosa noun umzantsi meaning south, is a name for South Africa.
South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world, extensive fossil remains have been recovered from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has termed the Cradle of Humankind
Galena
Galena, called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead sulfide. It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver, Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It crystallizes in the crystal system often showing octahedral forms. It is often associated with the minerals sphalerite and fluorite, Galena is the main ore of lead, used since ancient times. Because of its low melting point, it was easy to liberate by smelting. In some deposits galena contains about 1–2% silver, a byproduct that far outweighs the main ore in revenue. Galena deposits often contain significant amounts of silver as included silver sulfide mineral phases or as limited solid solution within the galena structure. These argentiferous galenas have long been the most important ore of silver, Galena deposits are found worldwide in various environments. Galena occurs in North African countries and at Mount Hermon in Northern Israel, in the United States, it occurs most notably in the Mississippi Valley type deposits of the Lead Belt in southeastern Missouri, and in the Driftless Area of Illinois and Wisconsin.
The economic importance of galena to the history of the Driftless Area was so great that one of the towns in the region was named Galena. Galena was a mineral of the zinc-lead mines of the tri-state district around Joplin in southwestern Missouri. Galena is an important ore mineral in the mining regions of Colorado, Utah. Of the latter, the Coeur dAlene district of northern Idaho was most prominent, Galena is the official state mineral of the U. S. states of Missouri and Wisconsin, the former mining town of Galena, Kansas takes its name from deposits of this mineral. Derbyshire in the UK was one of the areas where galena was mined. The largest documented crystal of galena is composite cubo-octahedra from the Great Laxey Mine, Isle of Man, Galena belongs to the octahedral sulfide group of minerals that have metal ions in octahedral positions, such as the iron sulfide pyrrhotite and the nickel arsenide niccolite. The galena group is named after its most common member, with other members that include manganese bearing alabandite and niningerite.
Divalent lead cations and sulfur anions form a cubic unit cell much like the mineral halite of the halide mineral group. Zinc, iron, antimony, bismuth, selenium substitutes for sulfur in the structure constituting a solid solution series
Iron oxide copper gold ore deposits
These ore bodies tend to express as cone-like, blanket-like breccia sheets within granitic margins, or as long ribbon-like breccia or massive iron oxide deposits within faults or shears. The tremendous size, relatively simple metallurgy and relatively high grade of IOCG deposits can produce extremely profitable mines, some examples include the Olympic Dam, South Australia and La Candelaria, Chile deposits. Iron oxide copper gold deposits are considered to be expressions of large crustal-scale alteration events driven by intrusive activity. The deposit type was first recognised, though not named as IOCG, by discovery and study of the supergiant Olympic Dam copper-gold-uranium deposit, IOCG deposits tend to accumulate within faults as epigenetic mineralisation distal to the source intrusion, whereas porphyries are much more proximal to intrusive bodies. IOCG deposits are relatively loosely defined and as such, some large. IOCG deposits may have skarn-like affinities, although they are not strictly skarns in that they are not metasomatites in the strictest sense. IOCG deposits can express a variety of deposit morphologies and alteration types dependent on their host stratigraphy, the tectonic processes operating at the time.
IOCG deposits have been recognised within epithermal regimes through to brittle-ductile regimes deeper within the crust, what is common in IOCGs is their genesis within magmatic-driven crustal-scale hydrothermal systems. Iron oxide copper gold deposits form within provinces where several deposits of similar style, timing. As such, IOCG deposits form pipe-like, mantle-like or extensive breccia-vein sheets within the host stratigraphy, morphology is often not an important criterion of the ore body itself, and is determined by the host stratigraphy and structures. Often the mineralising intrusive event becomes an association for expressions of IOCG mineralisation within a given province. Although not exclusively Proterozoic, within Australia and South America a majority of IOCG deposits are recognised to be within Neoproterozoic to Mesoproterozoic basement. Worldwide, ages of recognised IOCG deposits range from 1. 8Ga to 15 Ma, ore minerals in IOCG deposits are typically copper-iron sulfide chalcopyrite and gangue pyrite, forming 10-15% of the rock mass.
Alteration is a mixture of sodic-calcic to potassic in style, and may vary province to province based on host rocks. Typically for large-scale hydrothermal systems, fluid types within IOCG systems show a mixed provenance of magmatic, deposits may be vertically zoned from deeper albite-magnetite assemblages trending toward silica-K-feldspar-sericite in the upper portions of the deposits. Gangue minerals are typically some form of iron oxide mineral, classically hematite and this is typically associated with gangue sulfides of pyrite, with subordinate pyrrhotite and other base metal sulfides. Where present, rare earth metals tend to associate with phosphate minerals, when iron oxide species trend towards magnetite or crystalline massive hematite, IOCG deposits may be economic based on their iron oxide contents alone. Several examples of IOCG deposits are iron ore deposits, gravity data is often interpreted via a 3D inversion to resolve the density contrast and sub-surface position of a dense body of rock
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with symbol Au and atomic number 79. In its purest form, it is a bright, slightly yellow, soft, malleable. Chemically, gold is a metal and a group 11 element. It is one of the least reactive chemical elements and is solid under standard conditions, Gold often occurs in free elemental form, as nuggets or grains, in rocks, in veins, and in alluvial deposits. It occurs in a solid solution series with the element silver and naturally alloyed with copper. Less commonly, it occurs in minerals as gold compounds, often with tellurium, golds atomic number of 79 makes it one of the higher numbered, naturally occurring elements. It is thought to have produced in supernova nucleosynthesis, from the collision of neutron stars. Because the Earth was molten when it was formed, almost all of the present in the early Earth probably sank into the planetary core. Gold is resistant to most acids, though it does dissolve in aqua regia, a mixture of acid and hydrochloric acid. Gold dissolves in solutions of cyanide, which are used in mining and electroplating.
Gold dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam alloys, but this is not a chemical reaction, as a precious metal, gold has been used for coinage and other arts throughout recorded history. A total of 186,700 tonnes of gold is in existence above ground, the world consumption of new gold produced is about 50% in jewelry, 40% in investments, and 10% in industry. Gold is used in infrared shielding, colored-glass production, gold leafing, certain gold salts are still used as anti-inflammatories in medicine. As of 2014, the worlds largest gold producer by far was China with 450 tonnes, Gold is cognate with similar words in many Germanic languages, deriving via Proto-Germanic *gulþą from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃-. The symbol Au is from the Latin, the Latin word for gold, the Proto-Indo-European ancestor of aurum was *h₂é-h₂us-o-, meaning glow. This word is derived from the root as *h₂éu̯sōs, the ancestor of the Latin word Aurora. This etymological relationship is presumably behind the frequent claim in scientific publications that aurum meant shining dawn, Gold is the most malleable of all metals, a single gram can be beaten into a sheet of 1 square meter, and an avoirdupois ounce into 300 square feet.
Gold leaf can be thin enough to become semi-transparent
Earth
Earth, otherwise known as the World, or the Globe, is the third planet from the Sun and the only object in the Universe known to harbor life. It is the densest planet in the Solar System and the largest of the four terrestrial planets, according to radiometric dating and other sources of evidence, Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago. Earths gravity interacts with objects in space, especially the Sun. During one orbit around the Sun, Earth rotates about its axis over 365 times, Earths axis of rotation is tilted, producing seasonal variations on the planets surface. The gravitational interaction between the Earth and Moon causes ocean tides, stabilizes the Earths orientation on its axis, Earths lithosphere is divided into several rigid tectonic plates that migrate across the surface over periods of many millions of years. About 71% of Earths surface is covered with water, mostly by its oceans, the remaining 29% is land consisting of continents and islands that together have many lakes and other sources of water that contribute to the hydrosphere.
The majority of Earths polar regions are covered in ice, including the Antarctic ice sheet, Earths interior remains active with a solid iron inner core, a liquid outer core that generates the Earths magnetic field, and a convecting mantle that drives plate tectonics. Within the first billion years of Earths history, life appeared in the oceans and began to affect the Earths atmosphere and surface, some geological evidence indicates that life may have arisen as much as 4.1 billion years ago. Since then, the combination of Earths distance from the Sun, physical properties, in the history of the Earth, biodiversity has gone through long periods of expansion, occasionally punctuated by mass extinction events. Over 99% of all species that lived on Earth are extinct. Estimates of the number of species on Earth today vary widely, over 7.4 billion humans live on Earth and depend on its biosphere and minerals for their survival. Humans have developed diverse societies and cultures, the world has about 200 sovereign states, the modern English word Earth developed from a wide variety of Middle English forms, which derived from an Old English noun most often spelled eorðe.
It has cognates in every Germanic language, and their proto-Germanic root has been reconstructed as *erþō, earth was written in lowercase, and from early Middle English, its definite sense as the globe was expressed as the earth. By early Modern English, many nouns were capitalized, and the became the Earth. More recently, the name is simply given as Earth. House styles now vary, Oxford spelling recognizes the lowercase form as the most common, another convention capitalizes Earth when appearing as a name but writes it in lowercase when preceded by the. It almost always appears in lowercase in colloquial expressions such as what on earth are you doing, the oldest material found in the Solar System is dated to 4. 5672±0.0006 billion years ago. By 4. 54±0.04 Gya the primordial Earth had formed, the formation and evolution of Solar System bodies occurred along with the Sun
Conglomerate (geology)
Conglomerates form by the consolidation and lithification of gravel. The size and composition of the fraction of a conglomerate may or may not vary in composition, sorting. In some conglomerates, the gravel-size class consist almost entirely of what were clay clasts at the time of deposition, conglomerates can be found in sedimentary rock sequences of all ages but probably make up less than 1 percent by weight of all sedimentary rocks. A sedimentary rock composed largely of gravel is first named according to the roundness of the gravel, if the gravel clasts that comprise it is largely well-rounded to subrounded, it is a conglomerate. If the gravel clasts that comprise it are largely angular, it is a breccia, such breccias can be called sedimentary breccias to differentiate them from other types of breccia, e. g. volcanic and fault breccias. Sedimentary rocks that contain a mixture of rounded and angular gravel clasts are sometimes called breccio-conglomerate, conglomerates are rarely composed entirely of gravel-size clasts.
Typically, the space between the gravel-size clasts is filled by a mixture composed of varying amounts of silt, paraconglomerates are often unstratified and can contain more matrix than gravel clasts. If the gravel clasts of a conglomerate are in contact with each other, unlike paraconglomerates, orthoconglomerates are typically cross-bedded and often well-cemented and lithified by either calcite, quartz, or clay. The differences between paraconglomerates and orthoconglomerates reflect differences in how they are deposited, paraconglomerates are commonly either glacial tills or debris flow deposits. Orthoconglomerates are typically associated with aqueous currents, conglomerates are classified according to the composition of their clasts. A conglomerate or any clastic sedimentary rock that consists of a rock or mineral is known as either a monomict, oligomict. If the conglomerate consists of two or more different types of rocks, minerals, or combination of both, it is known as either a polymict or polymictic conglomerate.
If a polymictic conglomerate contains an assortment of the clasts of metastable and unstable rocks and minerals, two recognized types of type of intraformational conglomerates are shale-pebble and flat-pebble conglomerates. Finally, conglomerates are often differentiated and named according to the dominant clast size comprising them, conglomerates are deposited in a variety of sedimentary environments. In turbidites, the part of a bed is typically coarse-grained. In this setting, conglomerates are normally very well sorted, well-rounded, conglomerates are normally present at the base of sequences laid down during marine transgressions above an unconformity, and are known as basal conglomerates. They represent the position of the shoreline at a time and are diachronous. Conglomerates deposited in environments are typically well rounded and well sorted
Rock (geology)
Rock or stone is a natural substance, a solid aggregate of one or more minerals or mineraloids. For example, granite, a rock, is a combination of the minerals quartz, feldspar. The Earths outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock, rock has been used by mankind throughout history. The minerals and metals found in rocks have been essential to human civilization, three major groups of rocks are defined, igneous and metamorphic. The scientific study of rocks is called petrology, which is a component of geology. At a granular level, rocks are composed of grains of minerals, the aggregate minerals forming the rock are held together by chemical bonds. The types and abundance of minerals in a rock are determined by the manner in which the rock was formed, many rocks contain silica, a compound of silicon and oxygen that forms 74. 3% of the Earths crust. This material forms crystals with other compounds in the rock, the proportion of silica in rocks and minerals is a major factor in determining their name and properties.
Rocks are geologically classified according to such as mineral and chemical composition, the texture of the constituent particles. These physical properties are the end result of the processes that formed the rocks, over the course of time, rocks can transform from one type into another, as described by the geological model called the rock cycle. These events produce three general classes of rock, igneous and metamorphic, the three classes of rocks are subdivided into many groups. However, there are no hard and fast boundaries between allied rocks, hence the definitions adopted in establishing rock nomenclature merely correspond to more or less arbitrary selected points in a continuously graduated series. Igneous rock forms through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava and this magma can be derived from partial melts of pre-existing rocks in either a planets mantle or crust. Typically, the melting of rocks is caused by one or more of three processes, an increase in temperature, a decrease in pressure, or a change in composition, igneous rocks are divided into two main categories, plutonic rock and volcanic.
Plutonic or intrusive rocks result when magma cools and crystallizes slowly within the Earths crust, a common example of this type is granite. Volcanic or extrusive rocks result from magma reaching the surface either as lava or fragmental ejecta, the chemical abundance and the rate of cooling of magma typically forms a sequence known as Bowens reaction series. Most major igneous rocks are found along this scale, about 64. 7% of the Earths crust by volume consists of igneous rocks, making it the most plentiful category. Of these, 66% are basalts and gabbros, 16% are granite, only 0. 6% are syenites and 0. 3% peridotites and dunites
Pachuca
Pachuca, formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is the name of the municipality of which the city serves as municipal seat, Pachuca is located about 90 kilometres from Mexico City via Mexican Federal Highway 85. There is no consensus about the origin of the name Pachuca and it has been traced to the word pachoa and patlachuican. The official name of Pachuca is Pachuca de Soto in honor of congressman Manuel Fernando Soto and its nickname of “La bella airosa” comes from the strong winds that blow into the valley through the canyons to the north of the city. In the indigenous Otomi language, Pachuca is known as Nju̱nthe, the area had been long inhabited, but except for some green obsidian the mining that Pachuca is famous for began in the mid-16th century, during Spanish colonial rule. Pachuca remained a major mining center until the mid-20th century, with the city’s fortunes going up, in the mid-20th century a major downturn in mining pushed Pachuca to change the basis of its economy to industry, resulting in the revamping of the Universidad Autónoma de Hidalgo.
Today mining forms only a fraction of the municipality’s economy, one cultural aspect that makes Pachuca stand out is the influence that Cornish miners who immigrated here in the 19th century have had. Many of their descendents remain in Pachuca and nearby Real del Monte, as well as two heritages that define the city, football and a dish called “pastes. ”Evidence of early habitation in this area is found in Cerro de las Navajas and Zacualtipán. Here primitive mines to extract green obsidian, arrow heads, scraping tools, an ancient pre-Hispanic obsidian tool-making center has been found in the small town of San Bartolo near the city. Around 2,000 BCE nomadic groups began to be replaced by sedentary peoples who formed farming villages in an area known as Itzcuincuitlapilco. Later artifacts from between 200 CE and 850 CE show Teotihuacan influence with platforms and figurines found in San Bartolo, after the Teotihuacan era, the area was dominated by the Chichimecas with their capital in Xaltocan, who called the area around Pachuca Njunthé.
Later, the Chichimecas would found the dominion of Cuauhtitlán pushing the native Otomis to the Mezquital Valley and these conquests coalesced into a zone called Cuautlalpan, of which Pachuca was a part. Fortifications in the area of Pachuca city and other areas were built between 1174 and 1181 and this dominion would eventually be overrun by the Aztec Triple Alliance between 1427 and 1430, with rule in Pachuca coming from the city of Tenochtitlan. According to tradition, it was after this conquest that mineral exploitation began here and in neighboring Real del Monte, the Aztec governing center was where Plaza Juárez in Pachuca city is now. The Spanish arrived here in 1528, killing the local Aztec governor, credit for the Spanish conquest of the Pachuca area has been given Francisco Téllez, an artilleryman who came to Mexico with Hernán Cortés in 1519. He and Gonzalo Rodriguez were the first Spaniards here, constructing two feudal estates, and calling the area Real de Minas de Pachuca. Téllez was credit for laying out the colonial city of Pachuca on the European model but this story has been proven false
Psilomelane
Psilomelane is a group name for hard black manganese oxides including hollandite and romanechite. Psilomelane consists of manganese oxide with variable amounts of barium and potassium. Psilomelane is erroneously, and uncommonly, known as hematite, despite not being related to true hematite. Generalized formula may be represented as Ba8O164 or as 2Mn5O10 and it is sometimes considered to be a hydrous manganese manganate, but of doubtful composition. The amount of manganese present corresponds to 70-80% of manganous oxide with 10-15% of available oxygen, Psilomelane is amorphous and occurs as botryoidal and stalactitic masses with a smooth shining surface and submetallic lustre. The mineral is readily distinguished from other hydrous manganese oxides by its greater hardness 5 to 6, the streak is brownish black and the fracture smooth. Owing to its amorphous nature, the mineral often contains admixed impurities and it is soluble in hydrochloric acid with evolution of chlorine gas. The name has reference to this appearance, from the Greek for and.
It is a common and important ore of manganese, occurring under the same conditions, with pyrolusite it is extensively mined in Vermont, Virginia and Nova Scotia. Other manganese oxides, Birnessite Pyrolusite This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Hugh. Mindat with locality data Webmineral Mineral galleries
Lead
Lead is a chemical element with atomic number 82 and symbol Pb. When freshly cut, it is bluish-white, it tarnishes to a dull gray upon exposure to air and it is a soft and heavy metal with a density exceeding that of most common materials. Lead has the second-highest atomic number of the stable elements. Lead is a relatively unreactive post-transition metal and its weak metallic character is illustrated by its amphoteric nature and tendency to form covalent bonds. Compounds of lead are found in the +2 oxidation state. Exceptions are mostly limited to organolead compounds, like the lighter members of the group, lead exhibits a tendency to bond to itself, it can form chains and polyhedral structures. Lead is easily extracted from its ores and was known to people in Western Asia. A principal ore of lead, often bears silver, Lead production declined after the fall of Rome and did not reach comparable levels again until the Industrial Revolution. Nowadays, global production of lead is about ten million tonnes annually, Lead has several properties that make it useful, high density, low melting point and relative inertness to oxidation.
In the late 19th century, lead was recognized as poisonous, Lead is a neurotoxin that accumulates in soft tissues and bones, damaging the nervous system and causing brain disorders and, in mammals, blood disorders. A lead atom has 82 electrons, arranged in a configuration of 4f145d106s26p2. The combined first and second ionization energies—the total energy required to remove the two 6p electrons—is close to that of tin, leads upper neighbor in group 14. This is unusual since ionization energies generally fall going down a group as an elements outer electrons become more distant from the nucleus, the similarity is caused by the lanthanide contraction—the decrease in element radii from lanthanum to lutetium, and the relatively small radii of the elements after hafnium. The contraction is due to shielding of the nucleus by the lanthanide 4f electrons. The combined first four ionization energies of lead exceed those of tin, for this reason lead, unlike tin, mostly forms compounds in which it has an oxidation state of +2, rather than +4.
Relativistic effects, which become particularly prominent at the bottom of the periodic table, as a result, the 6s electrons of lead become reluctant to participate in bonding, a phenomenon called the inert pair effect. A related outcome is that the distance between nearest atoms in crystalline lead is unusually long, the lighter group 14 elements form stable or metastable allotropes having the tetrahedrally coordinated and covalently bonded diamond cubic structure. The energy levels of their outer s- and p-orbitals are close enough to allow mixing into four hybrid sp3 orbitals
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series and it is by mass the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earths outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earths crust, like the other group 8 elements and osmium, iron exists in a wide range of oxidation states, −2 to +6, although +2 and +3 are the most common. Elemental iron occurs in meteoroids and other low oxygen environments, but is reactive to oxygen, fresh iron surfaces appear lustrous silvery-gray, but oxidize in normal air to give hydrated iron oxides, commonly known as rust. Unlike the metals that form passivating oxide layers, iron oxides occupy more volume than the metal and thus flake off, Iron metal has been used since ancient times, although copper alloys, which have lower melting temperatures, were used even earlier in human history. Pure iron is soft, but is unobtainable by smelting because it is significantly hardened and strengthened by impurities, in particular carbon. A certain proportion of carbon steel, which may be up to 1000 times harder than pure iron.
Crude iron metal is produced in blast furnaces, where ore is reduced by coke to pig iron, further refinement with oxygen reduces the carbon content to the correct proportion to make steel. Steels and iron alloys formed with metals are by far the most common industrial metals because they have a great range of desirable properties. Iron chemical compounds have many uses, Iron oxide mixed with aluminium powder can be ignited to create a thermite reaction, used in welding and purifying ores. Iron forms binary compounds with the halogens and the chalcogens, among its organometallic compounds is ferrocene, the first sandwich compound discovered. Iron plays an important role in biology, forming complexes with oxygen in hemoglobin and myoglobin. Iron is the metal at the site of many important redox enzymes dealing with cellular respiration and oxidation and reduction in plants. A human male of average height has about 4 grams of iron in his body and this iron is distributed throughout the body in hemoglobin, muscles, bone marrow, blood proteins, ferritin and transport in plasma.
The mechanical properties of iron and its alloys can be evaluated using a variety of tests, including the Brinell test, Rockwell test, the data on iron is so consistent that it is often used to calibrate measurements or to compare tests. An increase in the content will cause a significant increase in the hardness. Maximum hardness of 65 Rc is achieved with a 0. 6% carbon content, because of the softness of iron, it is much easier to work with than its heavier congeners ruthenium and osmium. Because of its significance for planetary cores, the properties of iron at high pressures and temperatures have been studied extensively
Manganese
Manganese is a chemical element with symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is not found as an element in nature, it is often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a metal with important industrial metal alloy uses, particularly in stainless steels, by the mid-18th century, Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele had used pyrolusite to produce chlorine. Scheele and others were aware that pyrolusite contained a new element, johan Gottlieb Gahn was the first to isolate an impure sample of manganese metal in 1774, which he did by reducing the dioxide with carbon. Manganese phosphating is used for rust and corrosion prevention on steel, ionized manganese is used industrially as pigments of various colors, which depend on the oxidation state of the ions. The permanganates of alkali and alkaline earth metals are powerful oxidizers, Manganese dioxide is used as the cathode material in zinc-carbon and alkaline batteries. In biology, manganese ions function as cofactors for a variety of enzymes with many functions.
Manganese enzymes are essential in detoxification of superoxide free radicals in organisms that must deal with elemental oxygen. Manganese functions in the complex of photosynthetic plants. The element is a trace mineral for all known living organisms but is a neurotoxin. In larger amounts, and apparently with far greater effectiveness through inhalation, Manganese is a silvery-gray metal that resembles iron. It is hard and very brittle, difficult to fuse, Manganese metal and its common ions are paramagnetic. Manganese tarnishes slowly in air and oxidizes like iron in water containing dissolved oxygen, naturally occurring manganese is composed of one stable isotope, 55Mn. Eighteen radioisotopes have been isolated and described, the most stable being 53Mn with a half-life of 3.7 million years, 54Mn with a half-life of 312.3 days, and 52Mn with a half-life of 5.591 days. All of the radioactive isotopes have half-lives of less than three hours, and the majority of less than one minute. Manganese has three meta states, Manganese is part of the iron group of elements, which are thought to be synthesized in large stars shortly before the supernova explosion.
53Mn decays to 53Cr with a half-life of 3.7 million years, because of its relatively short half-life, 53Mn is relatively rare, produced by cosmic rays impact on iron. Manganese isotopic contents are combined with chromium isotopic contents and have found application in isotope geology
