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what happens when magnesium ribbon is heated?

Magnesium ribbon burns in air with an extremely bright white light, giving off a large amount of energy, and white smoke with is mostly magnesium oxide in very fine particles. The magnesium ribbon easily crumbles into a white powder which is a mixture of magnesium oxide (about 90%) and magnesium nitride (about 10%). since air is a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen gases, both elements react with the magnesium metal.

2Mg +O2------->2MgO


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