Question

State the law of conservation of mass. Give one example to illustrate this law.

Answer 1

The law of conservation of mass states that matter cannot be created or destroyed in a chemical reaction. This law was first formulated by Antoine Laurent Lavoisier in 1789.

For example, when wood burns, the mass of the soot, ashes, and gases equals the original mass of the charcoal and the oxygen when it first reacted.

Hence,
Mass of product = Mass of reactants
This verifies the law of conservation of mass.