CAUTION: This Activity needs the teacher’s assistance. It would be better if students wear suitable eyeglasses.
- Clean a magnesium ribbon about 3-4 cm long by rubbing it with sandpaper.
- Hold it with a pair of tongs. Burn it using a spirit lamp or burner and collect the ash so formed in a watch-glass as shown in Fig. 1.1. Burn the magnesium ribbon keeping it away as far as possible from your eyes.
- What do you observe?
Observations:
- Magnesium ribbon burns with a dazzling white flame and changes into a white powder.
- This powder is magnesium oxide.
- It is formed due to the reaction between Magnesium and Oxygen present in the air.
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