Collection: Manganese

Manganese (symbol Mn) is a chemical element with a single stable isotope, and whose atomic number is 25. In the form of a simple body, manganese is a transition metal, whose grayish solid exists in four allotropic varieties. More than fifteen million tons of this element are produced each year, for use in industry or agriculture. In industry, manganese is mainly used as an alloying element for ferrous or non-ferrous metals, and helps to improve the properties, but also to produce manganese dioxide for various uses. In agriculture, because of its role as a trace element, manganese is used to enrich soils that lack it. Although it is necessary for humans, it can become toxic if it exceeds certain thresholds in the body.

In 1831, Berzélius's chemistry work was at the origin of the introduction of the adjective manganous, to qualify the compound MnO, manganese chloride MnCl2 which was used in dyeing to compose manganese bistre, manganese sulfate MnSO4 and later all the compounds of Mn(II)6. In 1840, the dictionary of the French Academy accepted the adjectives manganesiferous qualifying that which contains manganese and manganic, as well as the word manganate, corresponding to manganic anhydride MnO3 and to the salts of the corresponding unknown acid, already familiar to chemists, such as manganese trisulfate, Mn(SO4)3. The adjective manganic is used to qualify the compounds of Mn of valence VI.

It seems, however, that the adjectives manganese, meaning mixed with manganese, and manganesian, or containing Mn, cited in the Larousse dictionary were already common in mineralogy and chemistry laboratories before 1870.