Question

Suppose you were able to provide a plant with exactly 264 grams of carbon dioxide and 1 grams of water. After photosynthesis, the plant only produced 180 grams of sugar. Was the rest of the reactants destroyed in the reaction? Justify your response. Include the definition of the law of conservation of matter in your response .

Answer 1

In photosynthesis, plants use carbon dioxide and water to produce glucose and oxygen. The law of conservation of matter states that matter cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed. In the given scenario, some of the reactants were used to produce sugars, while the remaining reactants were transformed into other molecules or stored as plant material.

Step-by-step explanation:

The law of conservation of matter states that matter cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed from one form to another. In the process of photosynthesis, plants use carbon dioxide and water to produce glucose and oxygen. The chemical equation for photosynthesis is 6CO2 + 6H2O → C6H12O6 + 6O2.

In the given scenario, the plant provided with 264 grams of carbon dioxide and 1 gram of water produced 180 grams of sugar. This means that some of the carbon dioxide and water were used to produce the sugars, while the remaining reactants were transformed into other molecules such as oxygen or stored as plant material. None of the reactants were destroyed in the reaction, as per the law of conservation of matter.