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Thermite Reaction


The thermite reaction involves a mixture of iron oxide and aluminum that has been placed in a flower pot and covered with potassium permanganate. Some glycerin is poured over the potassium permanganate and eventually begins to react. When the iron oxide-aluminum mixture is ignited, a very vigorous reaction occurs and a molten metal can be seen dropping from the flower pot into a bucket of sand below. The reaction is extremely exothermic, a great deal of heat is given off. When the product of the reaction is examined a large piece of white hot iron has fallen into the sand at the bottom of the apparatus. This illustrates that aluminum is an extremely strong reducing agent and also that this reaction is very highly exothermic.


The size of the movie file is 4.2 MB and its duration is 62 seconds. The name of the movie file is "THERMITE.MOV" and it is located in the folder "MOVIES/THERMIT".

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