![]() ![]() There are reactions that we observe quite often, such as wood burning, that could be used but that are difficult to quantify because their products escape as soon as they are produced. In order to observe a reaction taking place, there must be a color change, the emission of a gas, or some other chemical change that can be visually monitored. If you were to design an experiment to confirm this law, you would want to observe two things: 1) A reaction is taking place and 2) The total mass of all reactants is equal (within experimental error) to the total mass of all the products. The purpose of this lab experiment is to verify the first of these laws, the Law of Conservation of Mass. Our entire system of stoichiometry is based on the veracity of these laws. What does this mean to us? Well, these laws allow us to balance chemical equations, calculate product amounts and determine whether reactions will be spontaneous. The total amount of mass and energy in the universe is constant. In the early 20th century, Albert Einstein announced his discovery of the equation E= mc2 and, as a consequence, the two laws above were merged into the Law of Conservation of Mass-Energy: ![]() In its most compact form, it is now called the First Law of Thermodynamics: In 1842, Julius Robert Mayer discovered the Law of Conservation of Energy. There is a scientific law called the Law of Conservation of Mass, discovered by Antoine Lavoisier in 1785. ![]()
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