I would assume that the magnesium would have to come into contact with an ion in order to become a magnesium ion.
I don't know what you mean when you say he "jobs" the other ball, and the answer to this question really depends on that word.
I'm going to say that the second player is holding the second ball, and he just opens his fingers and lets the ball <u><em>drop</em></u>, at the same time and from the same height as the first ball.
Now I'll go ahead and answer the question that I've just invented:
Strange as it may seem, <em>both</em> balls hit the ground at the <em>same time</em> ... the one that's thrown AND the one that's dropped. The horizontal speed of the thrown ball has no effect on its vertical acceleration, so both balls experience the same vertical behavior.
And here's another example of the exact same thing:
Say you shoot a bullet straight out of a horizontal rifle barrel, AND somebody else <em>drops</em> another bullet at exactly the same time, from a point right next to the end of the rifle barrel. I know this is hard to believe, but both of those bullets hit the ground at the same time too, just like the baseballs ... the bullet that's shot out of the rifle and the one that's dropped from the end of the barrel.
Every element is able to be recognized individually in many different ways. A very easy and common way is using light absorption also known as spectroscopy. Every atom has electrons, and these electrons like to stay in their lowest-energy configuration. However, when photons collide with an electron it can increase it to a higher energy level.. This is absorption, and each element’s electrons absorb light at specific wavelengths related to the difference between energy levels in that atom. But the electrons want to return to their original levels, so they don’t hold onto the energy for long. When they emit the energy, they release photons with exactly the same wavelengths of light that were absorbed in the first place. An electron can release this light in any direction, so most of the light is emitted in directions away from our line of sight. Therefore, a dark line appears in the spectrum at that particular wavelength.
Because the wavelengths at which absorption lines occur are unique for each element, astronomers can measure the position of the lines to determine which elements are present in a target. The amount of light that is absorbed can also provide information about how much of each element is present.
