Assume that the mixture of substances in drawing (a) undergoes a reaction. Which of the drawings (b)–(d) represent a product mixture consistent with the law of conservation of mass?

Question

Accepted Answer

Welcome back. Everyone shown in the figure below is a reaction mixture determined from the following representations, the product mixture that follows the law of conservation of mass. Let's recall that our law of conservation of mass tells us that matter is neither created nor destroyed. But what it does tell us is that matter does change form. And so what we should observe for the correct answer of our product mixture is the same amounts that we see for each of our types of matter in our reaction mixture being in our product mixture. So for example, we can count a total of seven red spheres in our reaction mixture and we can count a total of four blue pairs In our reaction mixture as well as in other words, eight individual blue atoms or spheres. So we want to observe these exact same amounts in our product mixtures. Looking at first choices A and B, we can see that matter is destroyed. Specifically in reference to the red spheres, we only have four choices A and B. So choices A and B will not honor our law of conservation of mass, meaning that and we are incorrect choices So not looking at choices C versus D, we can count a total of seven blue pairs. In choice D matter is created that does not honor our law of conservation of mass. So choice D is obviously an incorrect choice. In choice C, we can count four blue pairs as we saw in our reaction mixture. And we can count also seven red spheres just as we saw in our reaction mixture. So the product mixture for choice C is the only correct choice to complete this example as our final answer as the product mixture that honors the law of conservation of mass. So I hope this made sense and let us know if you have any questions.

Assume that the mixture of substances in drawing (a) undergoes a reaction. Which of the drawings (b)–(d) represent a product mixture consistent with the law of conservation of mass?

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Key Concepts

Law of Conservation of Mass

Chemical Mixtures

Visual Representation of Chemical Reactions