Brass Late Roman. Latten is a term for decorative borders and similar objects cut from sheet metal, whether of brass or bronze. Aquamaniles were typically made in brass in both the European and Islamic worlds. The cementation process continued to be used but literary sources from both Europe and the Islamic world seem to describe variants of a higher temperature liquid process which took place in open-topped crucibles. Islamic cementation seems to have used zinc oxide known as "tutiya" or tutty rather than zinc ores for brass-making, resulting in a metal with lower iron impurities. A number of Islamic writers and
Period 3 element in a thin layer of oxide [see passivation], which partly masks this reactivity). The free metal burns with a characteristic brilliant white light, making it a useful ingredient in flares. The metal is now mainly obtained by electrolysis of magnesium salts obtained from brine. Commercially, the chief use for the metal is as an alloying agent to make aluminium-magnesium alloys, sometimes called "magnalium" or "magnelium". Since magnesium is less dense than aluminium, these alloys are prized for their relative lightness and strength. Magnesium ions are sour to the taste, and in low concentrations help to impart a natural tartness to