Manganese & Vanadium

Başak Saraçoğlu 9H
 Index

Introduction______________________________________________________________ 2
Applications/Daily Usage___________________________________________________ 4
Further Studies____________________________________________________________5
Conclusion & Evaluation___________________________________________________ 6
References_______________________________________________________________ 7

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 Introduction
I preferred to choose manganese and vanadium for my chemistry project this year because
I’ve never heard of vanadium and its name and symbol seemed interesting to me and I wanted
to know more about manganese. In class we learned the symbol and some properties of
manganese and I was interested in learning the other properties of it.

In this project the elements; vanadium and manganese will be examined from their every
aspect. Also the importance of the classification of elements in the periodic table will be
discussed in the conclusion part.

Vanadium’s symbol V, it has atomic number of 23 it is in period 4 group 5.

First compounds of vanadium were discovered by Andres Manuel del Rio in 1801, in Mexico.
Rio called his discovery brown lead then it was named erythronium. Then Rio sent his
discovery to the Institute of France along with a letter explaining his techniques. But the
scientists in the institude incorrectly decided that the compounds resembled chrominium and
denied Rio’s discovery. In 1831 Nils Gabriel Sefstrom rediscovered vanadium while he was
analyzing iron in a cave.. In 1867 Henry Enfield Roscoe isolated vanadium from the
compounds. Vanadium is named after the Swedish goddess Vanadis.

Figure 2: vanadinite Figure 1: vanadium crystals vakuum sublimed

Chemical and Physical Properties

Vanadium is reactive to some extent.Vanadium doesn’t react with oxygen nor water. It reacts
with hot acids but it doesn’t react with all acids. For example Vanadium doesn’t react with
hydrochloric acid and cold sulfuric acid. Vanadium is a transition metal therefore it has
metallic properties. Such as malleablity, ductility, conductivity. Vanadium is solid at room
tempeture and has very high melting and boling points (1910 C and 3407 C relatively)
Vanadium has a silvery and metallic appereance but the compunds of vanadium can be in
different colors. It is also resistant to corrosion.

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Manganese
Manganese’s symbol is Mn, its atomic number is 25, it is in group 7 period 4.

Manganese gets its name from Magnesia, Greece. Manganese has been used as pigments
since the stone age. Stone age people used manganese based pigmentss to paint the cave
walls. Manganese compounds were used by Egyptian and Roman glassmakers. It was used to
either add or remove color from glass and because of that it was called the glassmakers soap.
Before it was used by glassmakers it was used by alchemists in their experiments.Johann
Gahn isolated it in 1774 by reducing the dioxide with carbon. Carl Scheele used manganese
dioxide to produce chlorine. In the beginning of 19th century manganese was used in steel
making. James Cooper associated heavy exposure to manganese in mines with a form of
Parkinsons disease.

Figure 3: Manganese(II) chloride tetra Figure 4: electrolytically refined manganese chips

Chemical and Physical Properties

Manganese is a transition metal. It has a melting point of 1246 C and a boiling point of 2061
C. Manganese resembles iron and has it is next to iron in the periodic table. Manganese has a
silvery gray color but its compounds are in various colors. Manganese tarnishes when it
contacts with air and rust in water. It is also ery brittle and easy to oxidize. Manganese can
form compounds in many oxidation states

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 Application & Daily Usages
Vanadium
Vanadium is mostly used as steel additives because it helps strengthen it. And it protects steel
against rust and corrosion because of its ressistance to corrosion. Humans also need 0.01 mg
of vanadiun in a a day to be healthy. Vanadium is a component of some enzymes in our body.

Figure 5: tools made from vanadium steel Figure 6: Vanadium(V) oxide

Compounds of vanadium are used in different areas. For example vanadium pentoxide is used
as dye and color fixer and it is very toxic. Vanadium pentoxide can also be used to produce
redox batteries for energy storage. This batteries are used in powering electric cars. Vanadyl
sulfate is used as a dietary supplement in body building. When vanadium is mixed with
aluminium it can be used in jet engines. Vanadium (V) oxide is catalyst in making sulfuric
acid.

Manganese

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Just like vanadium manganese is important for the production of steel. An adult human has 12
mg of manganese in their body. Ionized manganese is used as pigments of various colors
Manganese can also be used for glass making and production of stainless steel. Manganese
alloys with aluminium because it it resistant to corrosion. During World War II, manganese
was used instead of nickels in US coins because there was shortage in nickels.

Figure 7:WWII coin that has manganese in it Figure 8: cave painting with manganese based pigments

Further studies of vanadium

Vanadium is never found unbound in nature. Today vanadium is obtained from vanadinite
and carnotite. Vanadium can also be obtained from vanadium trichloride. First vanadium
trichloride is produced by heating crushed or in the presence of carbon and chlorine then
vanadium trichloride is heated with magnesium in an argon atmosphere.

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Scientists think that vanadium is necessary for the human body though they are not really
sure. Most of the vitamins consist a small dose of vanadium just in case. But high doses of
vanadium are very toxic.

Figure 9: carnotite

Figure 10: permangante

Further studies of manganese

Even though there is manganese in our body overexposure to it can be very harmful.
Overexposure can cause neurological disorders (Parkinson’s Disease) or problems in the
nervous system. Manganese dust is harmful to the lungs. Permanganate is the most toxic
manganese compound.

Manganese element have compounds at many oxidation levels. Manganese (II) compounds
are pink or light brown. Manganese (III) compounds are weak, manganese (IV) compounds
are stronger oxidizers.

Conclusion & Evaluation

During the research process of this project I learned so many new things that are new to me.
Not only about these elements but how to do research properly. Firstly I learned that
manganese was very similar to iron and was used in cave paintings. The history of both of the
elements intrigued me. I was also very surprised when I saw the color of the vanadium
compounds. Secondly I learned what to look for in internet when I am doing research. For

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example I learned which websites are trustable and which ones can have incorrect
information.

When Mendeleev arranged the elements in increasing proton number he did a favor to the
world. With this developments, chemists started to guess the properties of undiscovered
elements. The element’s proton number established its properties. Mendeleev’s periodic table
was also compatible with the periodic table trends such as ionization enrgy, atomic radius.
With this classification of the elements everyone can read the peridic table today.

References

1. “It's Elemental.” It's Elemental - The Element Vanadium,

education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele023.html.

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 2. “Vanadium Facts for Kids.” Vanadium Facts for Kids, kids.kiddle.co/Vanadium.
3. “Manganese - Element Information, Properties and Uses | Periodic Table.” Royal
Society of Chemistry - Advancing Excellence in the Chemical Sciences,
www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/25/manganese.
4. “Elements for Kids.” Ducksters Educational Site,
www.ducksters.com/science/chemistry/manganese.php.
5. “Manganese Facts.” Math,
www.softschools.com/facts/periodic_table/manganese_facts/201/.
6. Pedersen, Traci. “Facts About Vanadium.” LiveScience, Purch, 31 July 2017,
www.livescience.com/29155-vanadium.html.
7. “Manganese Facts for Kids.” Wikt:Moderate, kids.kiddle.co/Manganese.