Here's a Question! - Mass of Burning Steel Wool

Steel wool is placed in a beaker. The beaker is placed on a scale and the total mass is measured. Then, the paper is then set on fire. Once the fire burns itself out, the total mass is measured again. How will the masses compare?
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#combustion #chemicalchange #heresaquestion

[@UnderCoverMetalHead]

Wow that actually threw me a curve ball! At 38 years old your never to old to learn something new! Nice video!

[@JeffersonLab]

Thanks!

[@syntaxusdogmata3333]

I did NOT see that one coming! Nicely done! 👍

[@redfern_mike]

After your burning paper video, this was an excellent followup. Keep up the educational posts :) This may have benefited with a chemistry equation

[@JeffersonLab]

Yeah, probably could have. For both of them.

[@Qermaq]

0:39 love the stick figures :D

[@MathJfm]

First one of these I got wrong, glad to learn something!

[@vadrif-draco]

The burning looked pretty aesthetic

[@abcpsc]

Hi, could you please also show some theoretical calculations of expected mass change?

[@davidmorse8432]

4Fe + 3O(sub 2) = 2Fe(sub2)O(sub3)
One mole of iron is 55.85 grams.
One mole of oxygen is 16 grams.
You do the math.

[@lufetm]

Well, I guessed it right but I didnt really know why, it just felt right

[@PoppyTau-yu8os]

What is your hypothesis

[@davidmorse8432]

Is there no gas produced when steel goes thru the oxidation reaction? This experiment displays an interesting phenomenon that occurs when reinforcing bars rust inside hardened concrete. The resulting product, iron oxide, occupies more space than the reinforcing bar did before it began to oxidize and this causes the concrete to form cracks.

[@JeffersonLab]

Well, you can smell it when it burns, so it's not 100% contained.

[@stimproid]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@so_dumbshu]

Is steel wool just made of iron or something else too?

[@JeffersonLab]

If it's really steel, then it's iron with (likely) a little carbon and, perhaps, some other elements mixed in. There are a lot of different formulations for steel and I don't know the specific recipe used for generic steel wool. But, iron and carbon are safe assumptions.

[@PerspectiveEngineer]

So the iron absorbs some oxygen molecules and becomes iron oxide and or rust and weighs more fascinating

[@JeffersonLab]

Yep, with part of the key being that the iron oxides, for the most part, aren't liberated from the structure like carbon dioxide or water vapor would be.

[@sego001]

A

[@PerspectiveEngineer]

Quit time traveling.

[@JeffersonLab]

We'll remind ourselves tomorrow to stop yesterday.