Best Conservation of Mass Experiment EVER!

Published 2023-01-31

All Comments (9)
  • @talbiyah
    The mass of the candle decreases when it is burnt. This is because some of the wax has reacted to form gas. When iron wool combusts, it reacts with oxygen from the air to form iron oxide. Iron oxide is a solid, so the oxygen atoms from the air add to the mass on the balance
  • @Letsgofish123
    I do see some stuff flying off that could as others have suggested be the initial mass loss cause. My thought is that the heat is causing a bit of rising airflow through the steel wool resulting in a small upward force - which is constant so only increases initially. Could put the whole thing in a bell jar to minimize possible upward airflow.
  • @steveupton271
    Maybe the steel wool was treated with a preservative that burns off first before the iron oxide forms
  • i would guess that the initial mass loss is due to oxides on the surface of the wool breaking down and leaving the reaction as soot
  • I would try to activate steel wool boy with the battery from the top because activating him from the bottom may have created hotter air that effectively lifted steel wool boy off the weighing machine.