Commercially available magnesium turnings for Grignard reagent synthesis are a mixture of particles with different sizes (figure ). The coarse magnesium turnings (figure ) had a mean Feretmax diameter of 1.38 mm and a mean Feretmin diameter of 0.90 mm. The size distribution ranged from 0.35 mm to 3.35 mm. The fine magnesium turnings (figure ) had a mean Feretmax diameter of 0.85 mm and a mean Feretmin diameter of 0.54 mm. For these turnings, the size distribution of the maximum diameter ranged from 0.44 mm to 1.64 mm, with 70 % of the turnings having a maximum Feret diameter between 0.55 mm and 1.04 mm. The particle size distribution is narrower than for the coarse turnings.