Question

What does the law of conservation of mass state about the products and reactants in a chemical equation?

a. Reactions only happen if the mass of the products is less than that of the reactants.
b. The sum of the products will take up the same space as the reactants.
c. The total number and type of atoms will stay the same.
d. The total number and type of molecules will stay the same.

Answer 1

The law of conservation of mass states that in a chemical reaction, the total mass of the reactants is always equal to the total mass of the products due to matter not being created or destroyed.

Step-by-step explanation:

The law of conservation of mass states that during a chemical reaction, the total mass of the products must be equal to the total mass of the reactants. Thus, the correct answer to the student's question is c. The total number and type of atoms will stay the same. This is because matter cannot be created or destroyed in a chemical reaction, it can only change forms. An example of this law in action would be when hydrogen gas reacts with oxygen gas to form water; the total mass of hydrogen and oxygen before the reaction will equal the total mass of water produced after the reaction.