When iron rusts and forms iron oxide, the iron oxide has more mass than the iron. Which statement correctly explains this observation?(1 point)
Responses
Iron oxide has oxygen atoms, and pure iron does not.
Iron oxide has oxygen atoms, and pure iron does not.
There are more iron atoms in iron oxide than in pure iron.
There are more iron atoms in iron oxide than in pure iron.
The oxygen atoms in iron oxide have more mass than the iron atoms in pure iron.
The oxygen atoms in iron oxide have more mass than the iron atoms in pure iron.
The iron atoms in iron oxide have more mass than pure iron.
The oxygen atoms in iron oxide have more mass than the iron atoms in pure iron.
The correct statement that explains the observation is:
The iron atoms in iron oxide have more mass than pure iron.
The correct answer is option 2: "There are more iron atoms in iron oxide than in pure iron."
To explain this observation, we need to consider the chemical formula for iron oxide. Iron oxide is commonly represented as Fe2O3, where Fe represents iron and O represents oxygen. In this formula, there are two iron atoms (Fe) and three oxygen atoms (O).
When iron rusts and reacts with oxygen in the air, it forms iron oxide. During this reaction, the iron atoms combine with the oxygen atoms to form the iron oxide compound. Since there are more oxygen atoms in the iron oxide compound compared to the pure iron, the resulting iron oxide has more mass than the initial iron.
Therefore, option 2 correctly explains that there are more iron atoms in iron oxide than in pure iron, resulting in the increased mass of the iron oxide.