Science Group
Question:
rebelkat
Student
High School - 9th Grade
Answers:
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Posted by cbaileyenotes on Friday May 9, 2008 at 4:51 AM
The law of conservation of mass refers to the classic scientific principle that, during chemical reactions, matter is neither created nor destroyed. In other words, as explained on the website for the International Society for Complexity, Information and Design, "[i]t is a different way of stating that though matter may change form, it can be neither created nor destroyed. The mass of the reactants must always equal the mass of the products." This scientific principle was discovered in the 1780's by Antoine Lavoisier, though Mikhail Lomonosov had earlier expressed a similar concept. Thus this scientific rule is sometimes referred to as the Lomonosov-Lavoisier law.
Please note that this term was already defined in enotes as: (n) a fundamental principle of classical physics that matter cannot be created or destroyed in an isolated system [syn: conservation of mass, conservation of matter, law of conservation of matter] See: http://www.enotes.com/uxl-science-encyclopedia/conservation-laws
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bobolin Teacher
High School - 12th GradePosted by bobolin on Friday May 9, 2008 at 11:27 AMOne of the first conservation laws to be discovered was the conservation of mass (or matter). Suppose that you combine a very accurately weighed amount of iron and sulfur with each other. The product of that reaction is a compound known as iron(II) sulfide. If you also weigh very accurately the amount of iron(II) sulfide formed in that reaction, you will discover a simple relationship: The weight of the beginning materials (iron plus sulfur) is exactly equal to the weight of the product or products of the reaction (iron(II) sulfide). This statement is one way to express the law of conservation of mass. A more formal definition of the law is that mass (or matter) cannot be created or destroyed in a chemical reaction. A similar law exists for energy. When you turn on an electric heater, electrical energy is converted to heat energy.
