Today we made a new substance from Mg and O2. We burnt magnesium ribbon in a bunsen to turn it into a powder. This powder was a compound meaning it is a solid substance made of more than 1 element and it is chemically connected together, the elements in the compound is made up of only one 1 type of atom.
It started out as a strip of silver/grey magnesium and quickly catches on fire forming a greyish smoke as I held it over the flame( a colourless gas called oxygen). As I took the magnesium off the flame I saw a bright spark of white as the hard ribbon turns into the white/grey powder called magnesium oxide. This process is irreversible, meaning that once it turns into a powder you can not turn it back to a magnesium strip.
The formula :Mg + 02 = MgO
In the process 02 in the formula means oxygen times two. Meaning that the Mg loses 2 electrons and the oxygen gains 2, forming an octet(an outer shell of eight valence electrons).
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