# Law of Conservation of Mass

Law of conservation of mass states that for any given closed system, mass can neither be created nor be destroyed, over the time it can be conserved. It is also known as the principle of mass conservation.

The total mass of reactants should be equal to the total mass of the products for an isolated system with low energy thermodynamic process. It is believed that there are few assumptions from classical mechanics which defines mass conservation. Later the law was modified with the help of quantum mechanics and special relativity that energy and mass are one conserved quantity.

## Formula for law of conservation of mass

Using classical mechanics law of conservation of mass can be formulated for isolated systems when energy scale is smaller than mc2

Where,

m: mass of an object in the system

C: speed of light

Conservation of mass can be expressed in the differential form using the continuity equation in fluid mechanics and continuum mechanics as

$\frac{\partial \rho }{\partial t}+\bigtriangledown (\rho v)=0$

Where,

ρ: density

t: time

v: velocity

⛛: divergence

### Examples of law of conservation of mass

• Combustion process: Burning of wood is a conservation of mass as the burning of wood involves Oxygen, Carbon dioxide, water vapor and ashes.
• Chemical reactions: To get one molecule of H2O (water) with the molecular weight of 10, Hydrogen with molecular weight 2 is added with Oxygen whose molecular weight is 8, thereby conserving the mass.

To know about the law of conservation of energy, stay tuned with BYJU’S.

Related Physics Articles:

#### Practise This Question

Why is the block at rest despite an external force because of the pushing guy?