Gary Hanington is Professor Emeritus of physical science at Great Basin College and Chief Scientist at AHV. He can be reached at gary.hanington@gbcnv.edu.
In a paper recently published in the open-access journal Materials, researchers devised a novel effective reduction technique for producing porous pellets to promote mass transfer in the production of magnesium. It was determined that this can enhance the reduction efficiency while improving the pellet reactivity.
If subduction carries hydrous minerals deep into Earth's mantle, they may "rust" the iron outer core, forming vast sinks of oxygen that can later be returned to the atmosphere. Iron on Earth's surface whether in simple nails or mighty girders .