Law of Conservation of mass calculations

What is the Law of Conservation of Mass?

When elements and compounds react to form new products, mass cannot be lost or g
ained.
"The Law of Conservation of Mass" definition states that "mass cannot be created
or destroyed, but changed into different forms".
So, in a chemical change, the total mass of reactants must equal the total mass
of products.
The law of conservation of mass can also be stated "no atoms can be lost or made
in a chemical reaction", which is why the total mass of products must equal the
total mass of reactants you started with.
By using this law, together with atomic and formula masses, you can calculate th
e quantities of reactants and products involved in a reaction and the simplest f
ormula of a compound
One consequence of the law of conservation of mass is that In a balanced chemica
l symbol equation, the total of relative formula masses of the reactants is equa
l to the total relative formula masses of the products.
You can see this in the examples worked out for you ...
... so, this page just explains how to do simple reacting mass calculations base
d on the reaction equation and applying the Law of Conservation of Mass,
but first, by at least one clearly observed experiment, that the Law of Conserva
tion of Mass holds good, even in the humble school or college laboratory! see di
agram below and read on. ...
See also Section 5. which shows how to use this law to get to a compound's formu
la too
... before tackling the first calculations based on the Law of Conservation of m
ass, its worth describing a simple experiment to demonstrate the validity of the
law. The experiment is illustrated in the diagram above and represents an enclo
sed system, where nothing can escape !
You prepare solutions of copper sulfate (blue) and sodium hydroxide (colourless,
light grey in diagram!).
The most impressive way to demonstrate this is to use a sealed system on an accu
rate electronic one pan balance. You can use 50 cm3 of 1 molar copper sulfate so
lution and pour into conical flask.
The concentrated sodium hydroxide solution is suspended by a string in a suitabl
e container - small test tube or weighing/sample bottle.
The whole lot is weighed (fictitiously 67.25g) with the rubber bung on sealing t
he 'system'.
Then, releasing the bung and string, the sodium hydroxide container is lowered i
nto the copper sulfate solution and shaken gently to thoroughly mix the reactant
s.
The reaction is immediate and a dark blue precipitate of copper hydroxide is for
med and the solution eventually turns colourless because only colourless sodium
sulfate is left in solution.
The recorded mass will still be 67.25g showing that no mass was created or destr
oyed in the chemical reaction, though to observe the law in action, you must do
the experiment in a sealed system where nothing can get in or get out i.e. no at
oms have been gained or lost.
The equation for this reaction is ...

copper sulfate + sodium hydroxide ==> copper hydroxide + sodium sulfate

CuSO4 + 2NaOH ===> Cu(OH)2 + Na2SO4
Teacher note
50 cm3 of 1 molar copper sulfate = 1.0 x 50 / 1000 = 0.05 mol CuSO4, Mr(NaOH) =
40, you need 2 x 0.05 = 0.10 mol NaOH,
which equals 0.10 x 40 = 4.0g NaOH pellets dissolved in the minimum volume of wa
ter, 4.1g should complete the precipitation.
NOTE: If you carry out an experiment that produces a gas in a non-enclosed syste
m (i.e. the gas can escape), you will observe a mass loss, BUT, if you could som
ehow weigh the gas, you would find that the total mass of reactants and products
had remained constant. So, even in reactions producing a gas, the law of conser
vation still holds good.
NOTE that in calculations ...
(1) the symbol equation must be correctly balanced to get the right answer!
(2) You convert all the formula in the equations into their formula masses AND t
ake into account any balancing numbers to get the true theoretical reacting mass
es.
(2) There are good reasons why, when doing a real chemical preparation-reaction
to make a substance you will not get 100% of what you theoretically calculate. S
ee discussion in section 14.2
Law of conservation of mass calculation Example 3.1
Magnesium + Oxygen ==> Magnesium oxide
2Mg + O2 ==> 2MgO (atomic masses required: Mg=24 and O=16)
think of the ==> as an = sign, so the mass changes in the reaction are:
(2 x 24) + (2 x 16) = 2 x (24 + 16)
48 + 32 = 2 x 40 and so 80 mass units of reactants = produces 80 mass units of p
roducts.
You can work with any mass units such as g, kg or tonne (1 tonne = 1000 kg), as
long as you use the same units for all the masses involved.
Law of conservation of mass calculation Example 3.2
iron + sulphur ==> iron sulphide (see the diagram at the top of the page!)
Fe + S ==> FeS (atomic masses: Fe = 56, S = 32)
If 59g of iron is heated with 32g of sulphur to form iron sulphide, how much iro
n is left unreacted? (assuming all the sulphur reacted)
From the atomic masses, 56g of Fe combines with 32g of S to give 88g FeS.
This means 59 - 56 = 3g Fe unreacted.
Law of conservation of mass calculation Example 3.3
When limestone (calcium carbonate) is strongly heated, it undergoes thermal deco
mposition to form lime (calcium oxide) and carbon dioxide gas.
CaCO3 ==> CaO + CO2 (relative atomic masses: Ca = 40, C = 12 and O = 16)
Calculate the mass of calcium oxide and the mass of carbon dioxide formed by dec
omposing 50 tonnes of calcium carbonate.
(40 + 12 + 3x16) ==> (40 + 16) + (12 + 2x16)
100 ==> 56 + 44
scaling down by a factor of two
gives
50 ==> 28 + 22
so decomposing 50 tonnes of limestone produces 28 tonnes of lime and 22 tonnes o
f carbon dioxide gas.
Example 3.4:

For more complicated examples and more practice of calculations based on reactin
g masses in accordance with the Law of Conservation of Mass ...