Final answer:
The statement regarding the law of conservation of mass is false; this law asserts that in a chemical reaction, mass is conserved and matter is neither created nor destroyed.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that the law of conservation of mass states that in a chemical reaction, matter can be created or destroyed is false. The correct formulation of the law of conservation of mass is that matter is neither created nor destroyed in the course of a chemical reaction. In simpler terms, the mass of the substances involved in a reaction, known as the reactants, is always equal to the mass of the substances that come out of the reaction, known as the products.
French chemist Antoine Lavoisier formulated this principle in 1789. It signifies the fundamental idea that in a closed system, the mass remains constant, irrespective of the changes forms of matter undergo. For instance, when wood burns, the combined mass of the resulting soot, ashes, and gases will equal the original mass of the wood and oxygen used in the burning process.
Therefore, it is crucial to understand that during a chemical reaction, substances change form—solids to liquids, liquids to gases, and so on—but the total mass of the system remains unaltered.