The combustion of magnesium creates so much energy so quickly that it is hard to measure its enthalpy directly using a simple calorimeter. However, you will break this reaction down into other intermediate reactions whose enthalpies you can – and will – measure. What broad question are you answering by doing this experiment?

Combustion is the reaction of a fuel or substance in the presence of oxygen or air. The reaction is exothermic and has heat and light.

The enthalpy change of the reaction is -601.6 kJ/mol.

The combustion reaction between magnesium and oxygen is highly rapid and exothermic. It is accompanied by light and heat. The reaction between magnesium and oxygen produces magnesium oxide.

The reaction can be written as:

Step 1: Mg + O₂ [tex]\rightarrow[/tex] MgO

From the stoichiometry:

1 mol of Mg and 2 mol of oxygen yields 1 mol of MgO.

Balancing the equation:

Step 2: 2 Mg + O₂ [tex]\rightarrow[/tex] 2MgO

The enthalpy change of the overall reaction is -601.6 kJ/mol

Thus, according to Hess's law, the change in the enthalpy of a reaction is the same regardless of the number of steps involved in the reaction.

Therefore, the enthalpy change of the reaction is -601.6 kJ/mol.

To know more about Hess's law, refer to the following link:

https://brainly.com/question/8261033