In making sheet glass it is customary to use 6 percent of lime and 4 percent of magnesia (magnesium oxide, or MgO), and in bottle glass about 2 percent alumina (aluminum oxide, or Al2O3) is often present. Other materials are also added, some being put in to assist in refining the glass (i.e., to remove the bubbles left behind in the melting process), while others are added to improve its colour. For example, sand always contains iron as an impurity, and, although the material used for making bottles is specially selected for its low iron content, the small traces of impurity still impart an undesirable green colour to the container; by the use of selenium and cobalt oxide together with traces of arsenic trioxide and sodium nitrate, it is possible to neutralize the green colour and produce a so-called white (decolourized) glass.