Final answer:
The mass of the wood and oxygen transformed into ash, carbon dioxide, and water vapor during burning, adheres to the Law of Conservation of Mass, meaning total mass remains unchanged, although the form changes. The correct answer is option: c. The total mass of the reaction remains the same but mass leaves the wood as smoke.
Step-by-step explanation:
When wood and oxygen are burnt at campfires, the chemical reaction adheres to the Law of Conservation of Mass which states that mass cannot be created or destroyed in a chemical reaction. Although the wood turns into ash and char, the process also releases carbon dioxide and water vapor as gaseous byproducts.
Therefore, if one could measure all the products and reactants, the total mass after the fire would remain unchanged from the total mass before the fire.
The correct conclusion about this chemical reaction is that the total mass of the reaction remains the same, but mass leaves the wood as smoke and other gases like carbon dioxide and water vapor. Even though the ash remaining after the wood burns is lighter than the wood was initially, no mass is actually lost in the process; it is simply transformed and released into the atmosphere.