Science - Making a Metal Oxide Test

Hi everyone!

This is my second blog post for science, I had recently posted one about testing hydrogen gases. It should be right under this post, I hope you learn something from my blog post and try it out. 

Aim: 

To make a metal oxide and observe the difference in properties of the product compared to the reactants. 

Equipment:

A piece of magnesium, bunsen burner, safety glasses, metal scissor tongs.

Method:

1. Get yourself prepared in the meantime you can light your bunsen burner, but make sure the flame is orange. 

2. Once you are ready turn the flame blue. 

3. Hold your piece of magnesium in the scissor tongs. Ensure you are holding onto the very tip of your magnesium. 

4. Place the other end of the magnesium in the bunsen flame. (The bolder and stronger flame).

5. When the magnesium begins to burn do not look directly at it, as the light emitted can permanently damage your eyes. 

Results:

It resulted in a very bright white light, similar to the light of a light bulb. 

Discussion:

When we lit the magnesium it took a while for it to actually start on fire, but when it did we only noticed it. Catch on fire and burn, after a few seconds it started to light up with a very bright light. We all thought it was really cool we got to do it twice. 

Conclusion:

Our experiment did work, and it looked really interesting. I was honestly just wondering why it creates a bright light. Instead of catching on fire and burning out, but I did question. Thinking what if we did a bigger piece of metal if we did the light will most likely blind us, or dame our eyes severely.