Finding the Formula of Magnesium Oxide

The empirical formula of magnesium oxide is

Other evidence to support my formula for Magnesium Oxide is the Ionic Bonding of the substance. This shows how the Magnesium and Oxygen atoms bond together.

Evaluation

I thought the method was a good way of carrying out the experiment because you could witness the making of Magnesium Oxide very clearly. But the method could have been unreliable as some faults could of occurred during the experiment; for example, the Bunsen Burner could have been off centre resulting in less heat to the crucible than possible. The crucible lid could have also been lifted off too many or too little times enabling the forming of Magnesium Oxide to be fair.

The results were all reasonably accurate and most of the results were very close or fitting the line of best fit.

There was one result that did not fit the pattern with an amount of 0.03g of Magnesium burned but a mass of 0.22g of Magnesium Oxide was formed.

The reason for this result could have been that the source of heat, the Bunsen Burner, may have been moved at some point of the experiment burning less Magnesium. Another reason why this could have happened is because the crucible might have been taken off too many or not enough times to form a correct amount of Magnesium Oxide in relation to the mass.

If I was to do this investigation again I would make sure that the crucible lid was taken off for a certain amount of time. I would have also repeated my experiment to make sure my results were accurate.

By Nina Ryner, 10p/106