Talk:Magnesium chloride

Move
I propose that the second word in the title be written in lowercase because of the following: --ElAmericano 05:08, 22 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 1) As far as I have ever seen, compounds aren't capitalized, especially not the anion in an ionic compound
 * 2) The wikipedia manual of style says this is the preferred/accepted way
 * 3) None of the other members of the Magnesium compounds category have capitalized anion names (I haven't checked other compound categories)

Support strongly! This page was erroneously moved by a new Wikipedian last month (see User_talk:Infralite for my follow up), I just got distracted and never initiated the move. a couple of thousand articles with chemical substance names, and all use lower case for the second word. Walkerma 16:49, 22 October 2005 (UTC)

Done immediately! Wim van Dorst 19:22, 23 October 2005 (UTC).

ELRQ: Elaboration request
How does one go about extracting it from seawater (preferably using easy to get tools / ingredients ) ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.101.15.241 (talk • contribs) 11:01, December 26, 2007

Replacing chembox with chembox new
The information regarding the hydrates has all been moved across- multiple compounds in the chem box will cause problems in future if links to other databases are introduced.--Axiosaurus (talk) 10:20, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

Use in Polymerase Chain reaction
This baby is a critical cofactor for DNA (and RNA?) polymerases, and as such is used commercially in Polymerase chain reactions - this should definitely be addressed here. Apologies for my brevity, I'll be back Geno-Supremo (talk) 13:41, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

"Liquid" magnesium chloride
This article repeatedly refers to "Liquid magnesium chloride" (in the de-icing section) when it means "a magnesium chloride solution" (i.e. in water)? Since this phrase is not that much longer, can we replace it? It's much more technically accurate--we don't want people running around thinking this is a liquid--rather, it's a solid salt that is dissolved in water. Cazort (talk) 18:09, 15 March 2009 (UTC)
 * I say do it. We want Wikipedia to be as accurate as possible. You shouldn't have just been WP:BOLD and changed it.--Jorfer (talk) 18:31, 15 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Would someone please fix that? I'm not sure of the correct terminology, but "liquid magnesium chloride" would be a molten salt.

"You shouldn't have just been WP:BOLD and changed it." Did you mean "You SHOULD have just been WP:BOLD and changed it." ---Dagme (talk) 16:28, 2 March 2019 (UTC)

Various bogus info which needs fixing
--John Nagle (talk) 05:52, 25 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure of the correct terminology, but "liquid magnesium chloride" would be a molten salt.
 * "In 1990, US production was around one million tonnes, with a bulk price around $180 per tonne". Is that price for magnesium chloride or magnesium?  The text indicates magnesium metal, but that has to be wrong.  Magnesium metal is around $3000-$5000 per metric ton..
 * ". Natural occurrence of anhydrous form was not confirmed." What's that supposed to mean?
 * I clarified the "liquid" comment.
 * The price and production figures must surely be for magnesium chloride, though I agree it's very unclear as written. However, I checked this document, and unless the production of MgCl2 fell by about 70% in one year (remember the figures in that document are for all Mg compounds) the figure we had was wrong.  Since there was also a two-year old "citation needed" I decided to remove the figures; anyway, it's better to find worldwide figures if possible.  Maybe Kirk-Othmer will have these numbers (I don't have easy access to that).
 * I think the writer was trying to say, "hydrated MgCl2 occurs naturally as XXX, but I'm not sure about anhydrous MgCl2". However, I don't think it really added anything to the article, so I just removed it.  If we all added everything we're not sure of into the article, it would be very long and completely useless.
 * The 1996 USGS document mentions that "About 67% of the magnesium compounds consumed in the United States was used

for refractories." From memory - those refractories are almost certainly magnesium oxide bricks for lining furnaces - is MgCl2 a significant source of that MgO, or is it all made from dolomite?  If MgCl2 is used to make MgO, we need a paragraph on that.
 * I also did a few copyedits. Thanks for your work, Walkerma (talk) 20:56, 25 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I removed the following piece of blatant spam (the ref is a link to "Slo-Mag"'s website):
 * Hydrated magnesium chloride along with a calcium salt is used by physicians as a magnesium-replacement tablet Slo-Mag®. It contains 64 mg magnesium per tablet. Other oral supplements with equal magnesium availability, such as magnesium citrate and other soluble salts, are available.

Bittern
Looking for information on bittern, I got redirected to this page. No mention of the word bittern is made on this page, however. Mention that the word "bittern" is used would be useful as would a description of how the two terms differ, whether they are completely equivalent or if their scopes of use differ in some respect. Wakablogger2 (talk) 23:40, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

I got redirected here as well, but this is the wrong page. "Bittern (salt)" should redirect to magnesium sulfate, which is very different from magnesium chloride. I do not know how to do this. 67.170.35.194 (talk) 16:35, 12 May 2010 (UTC)Mark

The word Bittern is often used to describe the Magnesium Chloride brine produced by evaporation near the Great Salt Lake. It is a feed stock in the production of elemental magnesium, diatary supliments, and Hexahydrate flake. It is also sold as a brine for deicing and dust control. To the companies manufacturing, consuming and selling the Magnesium Chloride brine the use of the term bitterns is common. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Will Snarr (talk • contribs) 21:55, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Removed
This needs work and it is is incorrect. Anhydrous salts melt ice by releasing energy, the heat of hydration. The resulting brine freezes at a much lower temperature because of the colligative properties of any soluble material causing freezing-point depression. "Generally, all ice melters work in the same way by depressing the freezing point of ice or snow and turning the mixture into a liquid or semi-liquid slush. A number of state highway departments throughout the United States have decreased the use of rock salt and sand on roadways and have increased the use of solutions of magnesium chloride (often called "liquid magnesium chloride") as a de-icer or anti-icer. Magnesium chloride is less toxic to plant life surrounding highways and airports, and is less corrosive to concrete and steel (and other iron alloys) than sodium chloride.  Nevertheless, magnesium chloride (CAS# 7786-30-3), calcium chloride (CAS# 010043-52-4) and sodium chloride (CAS# 007647-14-5) can be slightly toxic when applied directly in large amounts to grass, bushes, and trees. Airports prefer potassium compounds such as potassium acetate as a deicer instead of chloride salts because it offers the advantage of being less aggressive on soils and is much less corrosive, and for this reason it is preferred for airport runways. It is, however, more expensive. The liquid magnesium chloride is sprayed on dry pavement (tarmac) prior to precipitation or wet pavement prior to freezing temperatures in the winter months to prevent snow and ice from adhering and bonding to the roadway. The application of anti-icers is utilized in an effort to improve highway safety. Magnesium chloride is also sold in crystal form for household and business use to de-ice sidewalks and driveways. In these applications, the compound is applied after precipitation has fallen or ice has formed, instead of previously. Factors to consider for any anti-icer / de-icer product include (1) amount needed to be effective, (2) time needed to react and go into solution, (3) how long it will provide de-icing action (e.g., longer means fewer reapplications), (4) effectiveness of temperature range (magnesium chloride is 5 degrees F), and (5) environmental aspects such as residues, effects on plant life and effects on concrete. Purchasing and use decisions should be carefully considered since anti-icing and de-icing performance capabilities of common ice melting compounds vary significantly."

Recommend replacing ice control section content with the following:
Magnesium chloride is used for low-temperature de-icing of highways, sidewalks, and parking lots. When highways are treacherous due to icy conditions, magnesium chloride helps to prevent the ice bond, allowing snow plows to clear the roads more efficiently.

Magnesium chloride is used in three ways for pavement ice control: Anti-icing, when maintenance professionals spread it onto roads before a snow storm to prevent snow from sticking and ice from forming; pre-wetting, which means a liquid formulation of magnesium chloride is sprayed directly onto salt as it is being spread onto roadway pavement, wetting the salt so that it sticks to the road; and pre-treating, when magnesium chloride and salt are mixed together before they are loaded onto trucks and spread onto paved roads. While it is generally accepted that ongoing use of any de-icer (ice melter) will eventually contribute to some degradation of the concrete surface to which it is applied, some de-icers are gentler on concrete than others. Conflicting information in regards to magnesium chloride- and calcium chloride-based liquid de-icers have left many unsure which choice is best-suited for their needs.

Past studies have often utilized high temperatures to accelerate the impact to concrete. By setting parameters that more closely represent real-world de-icing conditions, Purdue University measured the impact of magnesium chloride and calcium chloride to concrete. Their study concluded that calcium chloride damages concrete twice as fast as magnesium chloride does*. (*Jain, J., Olek, J., Janusz, A., and Jozwiak-Niedzwiedzka, D., "Effects of Deicing Salt Solutions on Physical Properties of Pavement Concretes", Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2290, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C., 2012, pp. 69-75. DOI: 10.3141/2290-09)

NOTES/REASON FOR RECOMMENDATION ABOVE: THE CURRENT COPY UNDER ICE CONTROL FOCUSES ON CLAIMS OF UNDOCUMENTED DAMAGE BY MAG CHLORIDE TO UTILITY POLES AND INSULATORS. THERE IS NO SOURCE CITED TO SUPPORT THESE CLAIMS. IT ALSO TALKS ABOUT CORROSIVE DAMAGE TO "VEHICLE COMPONENTS," AND THE CITATION AGAIN DOES NOT SUPPORT THIS CLAIM. IF YOU GO TO THE ARTICLE IN HEAVY-DUTY TRUCKING CITED HERE, IT DOES NOT SUPPORT THE CLAIM. THE TRUCKING INDUSTRY AND THIS TRADE PUBLICATION HAVE, HOWEVER, FOR YEARS BLAMED MAG CHLORIDE FOR CORRODING TRUCK PARTS WITH NO PROOF. SIMPLY WASHING VEHICLES AFTER DRIVING ON TREATED ROADWAYS WILL PREVENT ANY MAJOR CORROSION, WHICH IS A SMALL PRICE TO PAY FOR UNDENIABLY SAFER ROADS. MAG CHLORIDE IS MOST COMMONLY USED TO CONTROL DUST AND STABILIZE GRAVEL ROADS AND SECOND-MOST COMMONLY USED TO DE-ICE ROADWAYS. THE CONTENT SHOULD REFLECT THAT. COMMENTS WELCOME. THANK YOU. 64.151.4.23 (talk) 16:19, 8 March 2013 (UTC)

Unsubstantiated blog articles by someone with an ax to grind are not proper citations
Recently (March 2013), someone added a claim that magnesium chloride corrodes auto body parts and paint finishes, citing a post on an auto body shop's blog as evidence to support the claim. There is no evidence that magnesium chloride used as a dust control agent causes any adverse impact on vehicles, and an auto body shop blog is hardly a credible source for proof of chemical attack to paint. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.151.4.23 (talk) 19:48, 12 March 2013 (UTC)

A whole section missing
There's nothing about its usage as food supplement or drug. See professor Delbet works. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.168.223.232 (talk) 19:52, 18 October 2013 (UTC)

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Ice bond
Under ice control, you CAN NOT say "ice bond." As a chemist, there is no such thing. This was clearly written by someone with a faulty understanding of chemistry or whose first language is not English. This should be a high priority edit. I'd change it myself, but I have no idea if the more accurate way of saying it is factually correct or not. Science Is My Life (talk) 11:36, 16 April 2021 (UTC)
 * ✅--Smokefoot (talk) 13:13, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

Solubility doesn't make sense
The molar mass ratio of the hexahydrate to the anhydrous salt is about 2.1, yet the hexahydrate is about 4 times more soluble than the anhydrous salt?! How does that make sense? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:1812:1126:5D00:B103:B191:962:ECAD (talk) 14:36, 11 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Good eye. The sol datum for the hydrate was removed.  I rechecked the sol data for the anhydrous.--Smokefoot (talk) 19:27, 11 December 2022 (UTC)