Question

What does conserving mass mean in a chemical equation?

Answer 1

The law of conservation of mass states that mass or matter cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred or recombined.
For chemical equations, this law means that each element must be accounted for equally both for reactants and products. So the same numbers of each atom must match on each side, hence the necessity for balancing the chemical equation accurately. This created a field of chemistry called Stoichiometry, which accounts for the conservation of matter throughout chemical reactions and processes.

Answer 2

Conserving mass in a chemical reaction means the atoms of each type should be the same on both the reactant and the product side.

Further explanation:

Balanced chemical reaction:

The chemical reaction that contains an equal number of atoms of the different elements in the reactant as well as in the product side is known as a balanced chemical reaction. The chemical equation is required to be balanced to follow the Law of conservation of mass.

Law of conservation of mass:

According to this law, the mass of an isolated system can neither be created nor be destroyed in any chemical reaction. The mass of reactants and the products should be equal in accordance with this law. In other words, the number of atoms of each type should be same on both sides of the chemical reaction. The reactant is the substance that undergoes a change in itself in a chemical reaction whereas the product is the one that is formed as a result of the chemical reaction.

For example, the balanced chemical reaction between ${{\text{P}}_{\text{4}}}$ and ${\text{C}}{{\text{l}}_{\text{2}}}$ occurs as follows:

${{\text{P}}_4} + 10{\text{C}}{{\text{l}}_2} \to 4{\text{PC}}{{\text{l}}_5}$

Here,

${{\text{P}}_{\text{4}}}$ and ${\text{C}}{{\text{l}}_{\text{2}}}$ are the reactants.

${\text{PC}}{{\text{l}}_5}$ is the product.

In the above reaction, the number of potassium atoms on both reactant and product side is 4 while the number of chlorine atoms on both sides is 20. So Law of conservation of mass is followed.

Learn more:

1. Balanced chemical equation: https://brainly.com/question/1405182

2. Write the chemical formula of the compound: https://brainly.com/question/10585691

Answer details:

Grade: High School

Subject: Chemistry

Chapter: Basic concepts of chemistry

Keywords: balanced chemical reaction, law of conservation of mass, reactant, product, P4, Cl2, PCl5, 10 Cl2, 4 PCl5, atoms, same.