I don't need any equations, I just need the steps. Thanks in advance!
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Off the top of my head, ethanol would be a better solvent. It is less acidic than water and the Mg should be less reactive in ethanol. MgCl2 is quite a bit less soluble in ethanol (7.4g/100ml at 30 C) than it is in water (54.3g/100mL at 20 C).
This leaves the unanswered questions of how fast does MgCl2 dissolve in water and how fast does it dissolve in ethanol? Also, how fast does magnesium react with ethanol at what temperatures? Further, is the solubilty of MgCl2 that I found for anhydrous ethanol (what you would want to use) or for the much more available and cheaper 95% ethanol (5% water)?
"...magnesium reacts with water at room temperature, though it reacts much more slowly than calcium. When submerged in water, hydrogen bubbles will almost unnoticeably begin to form on the surface of the metal, though if powdered it will react much more rapidly." I didn't find comparible info about Mg reacting with ethanol, but, again, I would expect it to react more slowly than with water.
Better still, would be to find a solvent for the MgCl2 that is non-acid, ie, won't react with the Mg metal. Since MgCl2 is soluble in ethanol, it MIGHT be soluble in acetone as well (didn't find anything about this). Acetone should not react with the Mg and if MgCl2 has any appreciable solubility in it, it would be better, even if it took noticibly more acetone -- acetone is cheaper than 95% ethanol and a lot cheaper than anhydrous ethanol.
This leaves the unanswered questions of how fast does MgCl2 dissolve in water and how fast does it dissolve in ethanol? Also, how fast does magnesium react with ethanol at what temperatures? Further, is the solubilty of MgCl2 that I found for anhydrous ethanol (what you would want to use) or for the much more available and cheaper 95% ethanol (5% water)?
"...magnesium reacts with water at room temperature, though it reacts much more slowly than calcium. When submerged in water, hydrogen bubbles will almost unnoticeably begin to form on the surface of the metal, though if powdered it will react much more rapidly." I didn't find comparible info about Mg reacting with ethanol, but, again, I would expect it to react more slowly than with water.
Better still, would be to find a solvent for the MgCl2 that is non-acid, ie, won't react with the Mg metal. Since MgCl2 is soluble in ethanol, it MIGHT be soluble in acetone as well (didn't find anything about this). Acetone should not react with the Mg and if MgCl2 has any appreciable solubility in it, it would be better, even if it took noticibly more acetone -- acetone is cheaper than 95% ethanol and a lot cheaper than anhydrous ethanol.