Sam's Magnesium Lab

Magnesium Lab

Sam Goodson

1-19-2012

Safety

**Before doing anything please make sure that any long sleeves are rolled up, baggy sweatshirts are taken off, and you are always wearing goggles! If you have any questions or concerns please ask a teacher first. DO NOT LOOK AT IGNITED MAGNESIUM

Materials

• Crucible
• Tongs
• Ring Stand
• Clay Triangle
• Bunsen Burner
• Striker
• Scale
• 1g of Magnesium Ribbon
• Distilled Water
• Various sizes of batteries
• Light Strip
• Wire Strippers

Procedure

1. Find crucible and weight it before doing anything using a scale
2. Setup ringstand over bunsen burner and place clay triangle on the stand
3. Attach bunsen burner to gas (do not ignite)
4. Find and weight magnesium ribbon
5. Place ribbon in crucible
6. Turn gas on and light the bunsen burner
7. Adjust heat so the tip of the flame barely touches the bottom of the crucible
8. Let heat for 2-3 minutes
9. If the magnesium doesn't ignite then use the tongs and pull a piece of ribbon out and place it in the flame until it ignites. DO NOT LOOK AT RIBBON place ribbon    back in crucible.
10. Wait for magnesium to burn out
11. Weigh the crucible after it has cooled off and compare with beginning weight plus the weight of the ribbon
12. Add distilled water to magnesium and stir
13. Take a light strip and strip the ends and connect them to clamps and place them in the mixture
14. Take the other ends and hook them to various sizes of batteries and see if a light goes on inside one of the lights
15. When cleaning out crucible dump mixture in TRASH and wipe out carefully with a paper towel.

Results

For my results I noticed that the crucible was the same after igniting the magnesium as it was before if you would add the weight of the crucible and the ribbon. After a while a faint red light came on in the light strip when it was in the mixture with two d batteries.

Errors

If anything went wrong in this lab it would have been when I weighed the magnesium. The scale was zeroed at first but after I took the ribbon off it went to -.3g.

Analysis

1. Mg before = .4         Mg After = .4        Increase = 0
2. The energy given off was Kinetic Energy due to the light and heat that was given off during the reaction
3. Due to the bright light when it burned it seems like Magnesium reacts with air.
4. Mgo; Mg3N2
5. Because of the light and energy, Mgo and Mg3N2 are mostly Nitrogen and Oxygen.
6. It's an ionic bond because it is 1 metal and 1 nonmetal that form together chemically.
7. If a loss of mass occurred than, more than likely, there was probably left over Magnesium in the bottom of the crucible.
8. Magnesium supports strong bones, a healthy immune system, muscle development, and nerve development.
9. Magnesium is commonly used for heartburn relief and to calm sore stomachs. It is often used in the form of Magnesium Hydroxide.