INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this lab is divided among many things. Although the main purpose
may be to see what happens when Mg is heated and exposed to oxygen, this lab possesses
many other applications to aspects of Chemistry. This lab shows the chemical change of
2Mg + O2 into 2MgO. Two different substances combine and react because of their
opposite charges. Mg has a charge of +2 and oxygen has a charge of -2 when they come
into contact with each other, so they will react with each other. Magnesium has two
valence electrons that is loses to oxygen to form an octet. Also, two different chemical
substances react to form an entirely different substance. This reaction is also a
combustion reaction. Magnesium reacts with oxygen to form MgO, and Mg reacts with
N2 to form Mg3N2. A reactive substance reacts with a gas to produce compounds of the
element that reacts with Oxygen. Finding the empirical formula in this lab will show how
there is usually not a 100% reaction rate, and that some Mg was consumed in competing
reactions. The law of conservation of mass shows that matter is never created or
destroyed, so the Mg that didn’t react didn’t “Disappear” but changed chemical form due
to other substances that reacted with it. In this lab, there isn’t supposed to be an
independent and dependent variable. We’re not trying to change anything in the
experiment, but certain things will have to be changed for convenience. In the end, it
shouldn’t matter if the size of the crucible and lid were different or if the mass of the Mg
ribbon was different for each of the trials. If the lab is done correctly, the results of the
MgO produced should come to within .01 grams of each other. However, in our lab, this
was not the case.

DATA TABLE

Mass of empty crucible 31.38220 19.1368 40.3073

and lid
Mass of lid alone 14.8034 9.2977 14.4933
Mass of crucible, lid, 32.0713 19.3617 40.6229
and Mg
Mass of crucible, lid, 32.2224 22.2129 40.8237
and MgO
Average mass of empty 31.8220 19.1368 10.3073
crucible and lid
Mass of MgO .4004 3.0761 .5164

CALCULATIONS

Mass of Mg = Mass of crucible, lid, and Mg - Mass of empty crucible and lid
32.0713 - 31.38220 = .2493 grams Mg

Mass of Oxygen = Mass of crucible, lid, and MgO - Mass of crucible, lid, and Mg
32.2224 - 32.0713 = .1511 grams of Oxygen

Mass of MgO = Mass of crucible, lid, and MgO - Mass of empty crucible and lid
32.2224 - 31.38220 = .4004 grams MgO
Moles of Mg= grams Mg* 24.305g Mg/1 mole Mg
.2493g Mg * 24.305 g Mg/1 Mole Mg = 6.0592 moles Mg

Moles of O2 = grams O2 * 32.000g O2/1 mole O2

.1511g O2 * 32.000g O2/1 mole O2 = 4.8352 moles O2

Moles of MgO = grams MgO * 40.3045g MgO/1 mole MgO

.4004g MgO * 40.3045g MgO/1 mole MgO = 16.1379 moles MgO

Formula of Magnesium Oxide = 2Mg + O2  2MgO

Ratio of Moles of Mg to moles of O2 = Moles Mg/ Moles O2

2* Moles Mg/ 1 * Moles O2 = Moles Mg/ Moles O2
6.0592/4.8352 = Moles Mg/ Moles O2
Moles Mg/ Moles O2 = 1.2531

Empirical Formula
Percent Composition (Mass MgO= 8.1301)
Oxygen= 2.4176/8.1301 Magnesium= 6.0592/8.1301
Oxygen= 29.737% Magnesium= 74.527%
Because the percentages add up to over 100% there must be something wrong with the
data.
Mg5O3 is the best fit with a variance of .02 from our data.
RESULTS

No excuse; I should have done this last week.

ANALYSIS

1. “The law of definite proportions and also the elements states that a chemical
compound always contains exactly the same proportion of elements by mass.”
(Wikipedia). It applies to this experiment because one of the goals of the
experiment is to prove that the compound has the same proportion of elements by
mass. Dalton’s laws #2 “All atoms of a given element are identical in mass and
properties” and “4) A chemical reaction is a rearrangement of atoms.” Support the
law of definite proportions because it shows that if a chemical reaction is a
rearrangement of atoms and those atoms all weigh the same, the proportions must
stay the same also. (quotes from
http://www.iun.edu/~cpanhd/C101webnotes/composition/dalton.html)
2. The limiting reagent was oxygen because we had a limited amount of Mg and
there was much more than enough oxygen in the room to react with the Mg.
3. a. If the magnesium was not allowed to react in sufficient air, then not enough
oxygen would react with the magnesium and you would have the same amount of
Magnesium to a lesser amount of Oxygen. This would affect the empirical
formula greatly, because there would need to be more moles of Mg than there
were before
 b. If that happened, then there would be less MgO produced, and the new amount
would make it so there would be a greater number of moles of MgO in the
empirical formula.
c. If this happened, it would mean that MgO would escape from the crucible and
there would be less MgO produced. The new amount would make it so there
would be a greater number of moles of MgO in the empirical formula.
4. The information that is needed is the ratio of the actual mass of the compound
to the empirical mass. That number is then multiplied throughout the empirical
equation for each subscript. For example, if the ratio was three, Mg5O3 would
become Mg15O9.
5. If the literature value is 60.3% and the value obtained by my group is 74.527%,
the percent error is (expected percent-actual percent, 74.527-60.314.227,
14.227%) a whopping 14.227%. That is a very bad percent error, even with the
materials used.

DISCUSSION

In this lab, many things affected the validity of the experiment. In order to speed up the
trials, the lids to the crucibles were lifted for too long, and some MgO escaped from the
crucible. As shown above, the percent error was 14.227% which is very large. In the later
trials of the experiment a different Bunsen burner was used that appeared to be less
powerful than the old one. This could have caused less oxygen to react with the
magnesium. Also, the times between lid liftings were often off by twenty or thirty
seconds. If the time was early, more oxygen would react with the Mg more quickly and
more MgO would be produced. If the lid was lifted less often, less oxygen would react
with the Mg, producing less MgO.
In the second trial, it was recorded that 3.0761grams of MgO were obtained from
the experiment, which is a much greater number than the other masses from trials one and
two which were .4004g and .5164g. So, it is possible that the scale was not properly
zeroed out when the crucible + MgO was massed, or it could have been that the lid was
swapped out for a heavier one by accident.
The invalidity of the data made it difficult to learn the chemistry concepts that
pertain to this lab. It was still possible to obtain an empirical formula of Mg5O3, which
might be wrong. Google thinks that MgO stands for Metal Gear Online and those results
plague my searches. I can’t find what the empirical formula of MgO should be.
The lab proves that there is never a 100% reaction between two chemicals, and
that competing reactions will reduce that percent. The lab is designed to assure that even
if there is not a 100% reaction rate with one chemical, that the rest of that chemical does
not simply disappear.
In conclusion, I have learned from this lab that although completing experiments
to learn about chemistry is a great way to learn its applications, there is a great possibility
that the data obtained will be inaccurate due to novice behavior. When the results are
wrong, they don’t work well with the math. It’s like throwing a wrench into a well-oiled,
perfect machine. The machine doesn’t want to handle it and everything gets derailed.
Boom.
SAFETY

There were many, many safety rules to remember for this lab. Bunsen burners were not to
be lit if there was a smell of gas, and the gas is to be turned on after the hose is attached
(as my sister’s lab group found out the hard way (ask Mrs. Rinaldi about it.)) The hose
must be checked for leaks before lighting the Bunsen burner. The Clay triangles are to be
placed in the iron rings concave side facing down in order to increase stability. Bunsen
burners will be lit by turning on the gas slowly and bringing a match to the gas from the
base and up the stem of the burner. The flame is not to be touched, and flammable
materials must be kept away from the flame. No smoking. The lids to the crucibles must
be lifted using tongs while they are hot. If a crucible is hot, it must be labeled as such
with the current time also written. Crucibles are to be placed not on the tables, but on the
wire gauze. Hot crucibles are not to be carried away from the lab bench, and hot crucibles
can’t be massed.