making a compound

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mtg
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making a compound

Post by mtg »

Help. We have been burning Magnesium ribbon in a crucible for years to make a compound but the last few years we have had trouble getting in to burn. We had it going for 2 hours and only 1 worked. Any hints?
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Labbie
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Re: making a compound

Post by Labbie »

Perhaps the Magnesium ribbon, has a coating on it? We would get the students to clean it with steel wool.
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bigmack
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Re: making a compound

Post by bigmack »

If its black stuff ,I remove it by pulling a length through folded sand paper . A couple of pulls and its gone .

Probably stating the obvious , but when you heat it in the crucible , the lid should be on . Then when you lift the lid ( with tongs) , it lets in fresh oxygen and bursts into flames .

Also , I'm not sure if this is a problem for you ,but I always try to clean the crucibles after use by soaking them in HCl to remove the crud that forms in the bottom .
mtg
Posts: 510
Joined: 15 Aug 2011, 10:48
Job Title: Lab Tech
School: NDSC
Suburb: west gippsland
State/Location: VIC

Re: making a compound

Post by mtg »

Thanks. It never used to be a problem, so although we clean the Mg I will get them to clean it 100% and I put out new crucibles but still didn't get a powder but a couple at least burnt the Mg a fair bit and got a slight weight increase.
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