Manganese is brittle as a pure metal but valuable in alloys, especially steels designed for strength and wear resistance. It also appears in biological catalysts, including the machinery that releases oxygen during photosynthesis. One element thus connects railway materials with reactions inside a leaf.
FROM ELEMENT TO APPLICATION
AN ELEMENT IN CONTEXT
Why can brittle manganese benefit a steel?
Iron-based alloys containing manganese
FOLLOW THIS RELATIONSHIP
Identify the steel's task
Railway and other demanding components experience mechanical contact and wear, so the chosen material must be evaluated as a processed steel in service.
Explore the model (optional)
MnFORM → INTERACTION → CONSEQUENCE
Follow the explanation in either direction. These are authored steps, not a physical clock.
Atomic identity, reference properties and structure models
INTERACTIVE 3D25 visible sites
An electron censusDrag to rotate · scroll or pinch to zoom
[Ar] 3d5 4s2. Grouping electrons by principal shell connects the neutral-atom configuration to periodic-table patterns.
What this representation means
A three-dimensional counting diagram. Dots are count markers, not measured electron positions; spherical placement and spacing are arbitrary. There are no electron trajectories here. Orbitals describe quantum states.
Manganese appeared in early pigments and glassmaking before the metal was understood. Eighteenth-century chemists investigated pyrolusite and separated its chemistry from that of iron. Gahn's 1774 isolation became a recognized milestone, although Kaim had described producing manganese earlier. The record supports a sequence of contributions, showing how an established practical material became a more clearly defined chemical element.
1740
Iron interpretation challenged
Johann Heinrich Pott showed that the investigated manganese oxide was not an iron material.
1774
Metal isolated
Gahn prepared manganese metal after earlier work by several investigators.
Manganese occurs in oxides, , and , including pyrolusite and rhodochrosite. It also forms part of nodules on the ocean floor, alongside other elements. These occurrences contain manganese in chemically combined forms, with mineral composition influencing how the element can be separated and processed.
Manganese metal is hard and , but adding it to other metals can improve useful properties. It can influence the strength, wear resistance, and workability of steel. Manganese compounds behave differently again: the dioxide and permanganate participate in chemical processes that do not resemble a metallic structural component.
Each section links its supporting references. Descriptions and diagrams were authored for this atlas. Source checks completed. Source checks dated 2026-09-06.
CITE THIS PAGE
Family labels and the group-3 layout are teaching conventions. A table position does not establish an unknown bulk property. Electronic configurations refer to neutral atoms; ions and material environments require their own account.
Read each reference property together with its units, conditions and the reference information below.
Not yet recorded: electron affinity, second ionization energy, ground-state term symbol, van der waals radius, thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, electrical resistivity, crystal structure, lattice parameter a, space group, abundance in seawater, abundance in the universe, annual production, supply-risk listing, hazard classification, biological role, cas registry number, pubchem cid, wikidata item. These families are declared and awaiting an ingestion run against the source each names; they are listed here rather than shown as empty rows.
Physical
Intended reference: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics · CRC Press
Phase at 20 °C
solid
293.15 K, 101.325 kPa
Melting point in K
1519 K
at standard pressure unless noted
Boiling point in K
2334 K
101.325 kPa
Density in g/cm³
7.44 g/cm³
solids and liquids at 293 K; gases at 273 K and 101.325 kPa
Atomic and electronic
Intended reference: Pauling electronegativity scale · Widely tabulated; original in The Nature of the Chemical Bond
Electronegativity in Pauling
1.55 Pauling
Pauling scale
First ionization energy in kJ/mol
717.3 kJ/mol
gas-phase neutral atom, ground state
Covalent radius in pm
139 pm
single-bond covalent radius
Common oxidation states
+2, +4, +7
states met in ordinary compounds; not exhaustive
Occurrence and identity
Intended reference: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics · CRC Press
Abundance in the crust in mg/kg
950 mg/kg
upper continental crust, mass fraction
Has stable isotopes
Yesderived
Discovery year in CE
1774 CEderived
WHERE IT SITS AMONG ITS NEIGHBORS
Electronegativity across period 4
Mn 1.55 Pauling · Manganese
Electronegativity across period 4. Exact values.
K
0.82
Ca
1
Sc
1.36
Ti
1.54
V
1.63
Cr
1.66
Mn
1.55
Fe
1.83
Co
1.88
Ni
1.91
Cu
1.9
Zn
1.65
Ga
1.81
Ge
2.01
As
2.18
Se
2.55
Br
2.96
Kr
3
Electronegativity down group 7
Mn 1.55 Pauling · Manganese
Electronegativity down group 7. Exact values.
Mn
1.55
Tc
1.9
Re
1.9
The trend uses the same reference-property values as the periodic table. Elements with no recorded value are left out of the line rather than drawn at zero.
