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A chunk of Mg metal is lit on fire. It creates a super bright white light. Once the fire is out there is just a white power left. How do you explain what happened?

User Shiv Garg
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Answer:

A chemical reaction between Mg metal and oxygen that produced magnesium oxide (white powder).

Step-by-step explanation:

Solid magnesium (Mg metal) can react with
O_(2) when it is lit. This produces magnesium oxide which is whitish in color. The balanced equation for the chemical reaction is shown below:


2Mg_((s))+ O_(2(g))
2MgO_((s))

In the reaction above, Mg is the solid magnesium and MgO is the magnesium oxide which is a white powder.

User Mong Zhu
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