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 carbonate ammonia. All forms of magnesium carbonate react in acids. Magnesium carbonate crystallizes in the calcite structure where in Mg is surrounded by six oxygen atoms. The dihydrate one has a triclinic structure, while the trihydrate has a monoclinic structure. References to 'light' and 'heavy' magnesium carbonates actually refer to the magnesium hydroxy carbonates hydromagnesite and dypingite (respectively). Magnesium carbonate is ordinarily obtained by mining the mineral magnesite. Seventy percent of the world's supply is mined and prepared in China. Magnesium carbonate can be prepared in laboratory by reaction between any soluble magnesium salt and sodium bicarbonate: If magnesium chloride (or