Phosphorus and Magnesium - Comparison - Properties

This article contains comparison of key thermal and atomic properties of phosphorus and magnesium, two comparable chemical elements from the periodic table. It also contains basic descriptions and applications of both elements. Phosphorus vs Magnesium.

phosphorus and magnesium - comparison

Compare phosphorus with another element

Compare magnesium with another element

Phosphorus and Magnesium – About Elements

Phosphorus

As an element, phosphorus exists in two major forms—white phosphorus and red phosphorus—but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Earth. At 0.099%, phosphorus is the most abundant pnictogen in the Earth’s crust.

Magnesium

Magnesium is a shiny gray solid which bears a close physical resemblance to the other five elements in the second column (group 2, or alkaline earth metals) of the periodic table: all group 2 elements have the same electron configuration in the outer electron shell and a similar crystal structure.

Phosphorus in Periodic Table

Magnesium in Periodic Table

Source: www.luciteria.com

Phosphorus and Magnesium – Applications

Phosphorus

Phosphorus is an essential plant nutrient (the most often limiting nutrient, after nitrogen), and the bulk of all phosphorus production is in concentrated phosphoric acids for agriculture fertilisers, containing as much as 70% to 75% P2O5. The vast majority of phosphorus compounds mined are consumed as fertilisers. Phosphate is needed to replace the phosphorus that plants remove from the soil, and its annual demand is rising nearly twice as fast as the growth of the human population. Other applications include organophosphorus compounds in detergents, pesticides, and nerve agents.

Magnesium

Magnesium is the third-most-commonly-used structural metal, following iron and aluminium.[35] The main applications of magnesium are, in order: aluminium alloys, die-casting (alloyed with zinc), removing sulfur in the production of iron and steel, and the production of titanium in the Kroll process. Magnesium alloys are used in a wide variety of structural and nonstructural applications. Structural applications include automotive, industrial, materials-handling, commercial, and aerospace equipment. Magnesium alloys are used for parts that operate at high speeds and thus must be light weight to minimize inertial forces. Commercial applications include hand-held tools, laptops, luggage, and ladders, automobiles (e.g., steering wheels and columns, seat frames, transmission cases). Magnox (alloy), whose name is an abbreviation for “magnesium non-oxidizing”, is 99% magnesium and 1% aluminum, and is used in the cladding of fuel rods in magnox nuclear power reactors.

Phosphorus and Magnesium – Comparison in Table

Element	Phosphorus	Magnesium
Density	1.823 g/cm3	1.738 g/cm3
Ultimate Tensile Strength	N/A	200 MPa
Yield Strength	N/A	N/A
Young’s Modulus of Elasticity	N/A	45 GPa
Mohs Scale	0.5	2.5
Brinell Hardness	N/A	260 MPa
Vickers Hardness	N/A	N/A
Melting Point	44.1 °C	649 °C
Boiling Point	280 °C	1090 °C
Thermal Conductivity	0.235 W/mK	156 W/mK
Thermal Expansion Coefficient	N/A	24.8 µm/mK
Specific Heat	0.77 J/g K	1.02 J/g K
Heat of Fusion	0.657 kJ/mol	8.954 kJ/mol
Heat of Vaporization	51.9 kJ/mol	127.4 kJ/mol