Don't call the fire department on Professor Yee after watching today's chemistry demo! A school building was actually evacuated once when Professor Yee attempted this demonstration because someone thought the building was on fire! While he creates a large and showy reaction in today's free Chemistry video on Magnesium and Dry Ice, no one gets hurt and nothing is damaged. Instead we get to see what is known as a redox reaction. A redox reaction is an oxidation-reduction reaction or a reaction in which there is a transfer of electrons from one reactant to another. The way Professor Yee accomplishes the reduction is by sandwiching the magnesium between two slabs of dry ice. The beauty of this is we get a reaction that results in a bright white light and a pile of carbon, or graphite, left behind. If you have never seen what happens when you ignite magnesium shavings in dry ice before, check out today's video for an exciting demonstration.
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