MAN-GA-NESE
While manganese and iron are similar, manganese is a grayish-white color when it has been purified. If you continue to look at the physical traits of the element, you will also discover manganese to be more brittle. As a pure element, iron is better suited to industrial needs but manganese is still used in many alloys.
Manganese is found everywhere. You might find it as an element in your body or in an alloy. It is even found in nodules at the bottom of the ocean.
Where can you find manganese?
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Deep Sea Nodules These nodules aren't like the ones in your body. These nodules with manganese are found on the floor of the ocean. A few decades ago, oceanographers discovered these nodules and many new forms of life on the floor of the ocean. |
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Vitamins We know that manganese is needed by you body in trace amounts. You need many vitamins each day and B1 has small amounts of manganese. |
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Amethyst A beautiful semi-precious gem. Amethyst gets its purple color from small amounts of manganese. |
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Medicine Many medicines have small amounts of manganese in them. It is usually part of a larger, more complex molecule. People don't take manganese alone to cure their illnesses. |
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Alloys We have to throw this one in to almost all of our metal pages. Yes Virginia, manganese is used in several alloys. |
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Batteries Here's something you might not have known. Small amounts of manganese are used in several types of batteries. You might be familiar with lithium and other elements, but manganese is in there too. |