Law of the conservation of mass?

Rachell Meese: Law of conservation of mass states that matter can be changed from one form into another, mixtures can be separated or made, and pure substances can be decomposed, but the total amount of mass remains constant.All it's really saying is that you can convert matter into anything, but int the end, nothing is lost in the process, but merely converted to another form, so mass of the total has to be the same before and after.For example, in a power plant, say that there energy is produced by heating coal in water and creating steam that in turn turns turbines and generates electricity. Although the end product left in the boiler is less water and coal, the amount lost is now in the form of electricity, steam, and heat that escaped.Another example, when corn crops (maize) are grown and harvested and brought to the market, the same mass is maintained as when they first started. When someone buys them in the store and chops them up to make a stew or make high fruct! ose corn syrup, the mass of the overall product is conserved. It's all there, just in another form. So mass of reactants = mass of products....Show more

Dannie Briseno: Well the law of the conservation of mass just states that mass cannot be created or destroyed. So you cannot get something(mass) for nothing.Hope that helps!Pascal