Burning Magnesium Essay

2116 Words9 Pages
Burning Magnesium Question: How will the mass of magnesium change when it is burnt? Evie: The mass will go up because oxygen is being added to the magnesium. I support Evie’s point of view as this has been proven from experiments and supporting evidence. Ethan: Oxygen doesn’t weigh anything, so the mass won’t change. Some scientist’s had this view in the past, which has now been refuted and replaced by more current thinking about how elements are arranged. I agree with Evie that the mass of magnesium goes up and my view is formed from the evidence presented by the results of the experiment carries out, the particle and brick models and findings of various scientists in this field. The mass of magnesium increases when it is burnt. The Magnesium reacts with the oxygen in the air to form the compound - magnesium oxide. The powder that remains will have lost some mass as smoke, but this resultant mass is still more than the mass of the metal that was burnt. Burning magnesium in air is a chemical reaction called oxidation and the compound produced is totally different from the two elements that have been combined. Each element is made up of atoms and the compound is made up of two elements joined together. The chemical formula for the reaction is below; 2Mg + O2 --> 2MgO Magnesium + Oxygen -> Magnesium Oxide The equation above shows that magnesium and oxygen have combined as the product of the reaction, their mass of each element has also combined in the reaction. Magnesium is a very reactive metal which when heated burns with a white flame. It easily takes part in chemical reactions. The Particle Model The Particle model states that all matter is made up of particles which are in constant motion. These particles are also attracted to one another. The three main points of the particle model is as follows;  All matter or substances is made up

More about Burning Magnesium Essay

Open Document