About Manganese
Manganese is a chemical
element that is designated by the symbol Mn and has an atomic
number of 25. It is found as the free element in nature (often
in combination with iron), and in many minerals. The free
element is a metal with important industrial metal alloy uses.
Manganese ions are variously colored, and are used industrially
as pigments and as oxidation chemicals. Manganese (II) ions
function as cofactors for a number of enzymes; the element is
thus a required trace mineral for all known living organisms.
Manganese is a gray-white
metal resembling iron. It is a hard metal and is very brittle,
fusible with difficulty, but easily oxidized. Manganese metal
and its common ions are paramagnetic. This means that, while
manganese metal does not form a permanent magnet, it does
exhibit strong magnetic properties in the presence of an
external magnetic field.
The most common oxidation
states of manganese are +2, +3, +4, +6 and +7, though oxidation
states from +1 to +7 are observed. Mn2+ often competes with Mg2+
in biological systems, and manganese compounds where manganese
is in oxidation state +7 are powerful oxidizing agents.
