Question

Explain the law of conservation of mass

Answer 1

Laws of conservation of mass

The law states that mass can neither be created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction i.e. Total masses of reactants is equal to the sum of masses of products and the masses of unreacted reactants.

For instance, the reaction of carbon with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide involves the conservation of mass in the following way.

C (12g) + $O_2$ (32g) = $C{O}_2$ (44g)

Here we used 12 g of carbon and 32 g of oxygen. After the reaction, the amount of carbon –dioxide produced will be 44g i.e. the sum total of the amount of carbon and oxygen used.