Question

After learning about the law of conservation of mass, Remy began to wonder about how to best test this law. She wanted to show that the amounts of matter did not change but produced an equal amount of a different kind of matter. What is the best way to study this law?

Answer 1

To study the law of conservation of mass, one can conduct experiments to measure the mass of reactants and products before and after a chemical reaction, demonstrating that mass is neither created nor destroyed.

Step-by-step explanation:

Understanding the Law of Conservation of Mass

The law of conservation of mass is a fundamental concept in chemistry that states that mass cannot be created or destroyed in a chemical reaction. To study this law, one could conduct experiments that allow for the measurement of the mass of reactants and products. The mass of the substances before and after the reaction should remain constant. For example:

• (a) When bread dough is baked, despite releasing gases that contribute to the bread's aroma, the total mass remains the same because matter is not lost, it is simply changed from one form to another.
• (b) When magnesium burns in air and forms magnesium oxide, the mass of the oxide should be greater than the original magnesium alone, as it has combined with oxygen from the air.
• (c) Antoine Lavoisier's experiment with tin and air in a sealed flask will show no mass change. The formation of tin oxide includes the mass of tin plus the mass of the oxygen from the air that was sealed in the flask.

These tests confirm that during chemical reactions, the matter transforms from one form to another without any detectable mass loss or gain, consistent with the law.