Determine the Empirical Formula of Magnesium Oxide by reacting a known mass of Magnesium with Oxygen Essay Example for Free

Determine the Empirical Formula of Magnesium Oxide by reacting a known mass of Magnesium with Oxygen Essay Safety Risk Assessment: Properly follow lab safety guidelines by wearing lab coats, gloves, and goggles and clear any personal belongings off the experiment area or the apparatus table. Gently handle glassware. Be careful when dealing with Bunsen burners. Make sure the crucible does not break while heating it as it might break due to the immense air pressure inside. Conclusion: Mg10O3 is the empirical formula we found through our experiment. Theoretically, the empirical formula is MgO. This is because Magnesium is a group 2 element so it would lose two electrons to form Mg2+ ion. Oxygen is a group 6 element so it would gain two electrons to form a O2- ion. So in theory, the empirical formula is MgO. Therefore we see were nowhere close obtaining a empirical formula to the theoretical answer though according to our uncertainty for Oxygen which is  ±3 it could be the oxygen we had weighed 5g and so therefore giving us a much accurate result of Mg10O2 which would go to a simplest ratio of Mg2O which would be closer to the theoretical answer. In addition to this according to our huge uncertainty the ratio could have also been 1:1 if the ratio would have led to 6:6. Though we see that the reason behind getting such an inaccurate answer is due to the incomplete combustion and due to not using a much more precise and accurate balance to weigh the apparatus and chemicals used.