Manganese is a hard, silvery-gray metal that's essential to making steel strong and durable. Steel mills add manganese to iron to create steel that can withstand tremendous force without breaking or bending. Without it, bridges would buckle, train tracks would crack, and buildings would be far less safe.

This element (symbol Mn on the periodic table) makes up about 0.1% of the Earth's crust. Miners extract manganese ore from the ground, then process it in enormous furnaces before adding it to molten steel. About 90% of all manganese mined goes into steelmaking.

Manganese also plays a vital role in biology. Your body needs tiny amounts of this mineral to build strong bones, heal wounds, and process the food you eat. Plants require manganese to turn sunlight into energy through photosynthesis. Without enough manganese in the soil, crops grow poorly and turn yellow.

For thousands of years, artists used manganese compounds to create purple and black pigments in cave paintings and pottery glazes, long before anyone understood it was a distinct chemical element.