Everything Matters | Manganese | Ron Hipschman

Brittle, gray manganese is a transition metal that lends its strength to steel and other alloys, and shows its colors in a variety of oxidation states. An essential element for life, manganese plays a key role in producing oxygen during photosynthesis, and helps our cells metabolize proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. While we maintain a balance of around twelve milligrams of manganese in our bodies, absorbing too much of the metal proves toxic.
Come be in your elements with Exploratorium host and scientific raconteur Ron Hipschman. Follow tales of intrigue and invention, join in dynamic demonstrations, and uncover fascinating connections between individual elements and our collective human experience.
Learn more about the series, Everything Matters: Tales from the Periodic Table. www.exploratorium.edu/visit/c...

[@sydhenderson6753]

By the way, although magnesium is at the center of the chlorophyll molecule which builds all the carbon compounds making up plants (via glucose), manganese is not only part of chloroplasts but the reason you're alive. There is a manganese-oxygen complex (possibly also containing calcium) in chloroplasts which is responsible for breaking water into hydrogen (for the glucose) and oxygen, which is a waste product that accumulated in the atmosphere.
I remember manganese dioxide from my inorganic chemistry class. It catalyses fun reactions, and Ron didn't even get into potassium permanganate.

[@soreff]

Good video! I was a bit surprised to not see permanganate mentioned. It is one of the more intensely colored ions in inorganic chemistry. "born to the purple"

[@sydhenderson6753]

Manganese is relatively common because it's near the bottom of the curve of binding energy next to iron. Cobalt and nickel are also enriched in the universe (but not on Earth since they sank into the core while manganese stayed more in the crust).

[@soreff]

While we've visited Magnesia twice, we'll visit Ytterby four times...

[@mohamedmousa8128]

Why this element fragile

[@momoary5740]

تمام اینها فکر میکردن که اینقدر آسان است رفتن به خارج

[@douglascollins3036]

Bohrium should be renamed "womanganese" with the chemical symbol "Wn."

[@NidusFormicarum]

Why?