Magnesium sulfide reacts with oxygen to form the corresponding sulfate, magnesium sulfate. MgS reacts with water to give hydrogen sulfide and magnesium hydroxide. In the BOS steelmaking process, sulfur is the first element to be removed. Sulfur is removed from the impure blast furnace iron by the addition of several hundred kilograms of magnesium powder by a lance. Magnesium sulfide is formed, which then floats on the molten iron and is removed. MgS is a wide band-gap direct semiconductor of interest as a blue-green emitter, a property that has been known since the early 1900s. The wide-band gap property also allows the
Magnesium silicide in the interior of the unit cell. The coordination numbers of Si and Mg are eight and four, respectively. Magnesium silicide Magnesium silicide, MgSi, is an inorganic compound consisting of magnesium and silicon. It can be produced by heating silicon dioxide, SiO, found in sand, with excess magnesium. The process first forms silicon metal and magnesium oxide, and, if an excess of magnesium is used, the silicide is formed: If an excess of Mg is present, MgSi is formed from the reaction of the remaining magnesium with the silicon: These reactions proceed exothermically. Magnesium silicide is used to create aluminium