Subject: SNC2DE Unit: 3.0: Chemistry Lesson: 3.

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Topics: Materials: Nelson: Science 10
Chemical Equations & Conservation of Mass Handouts
Homework: Take up homework
A) Intro:
• Now that we understand elements and compounds, we need to look at their reactions in more depth.

B) Chemical Reactions:
• We’ll be looking at chemical reactions involve the combination of reactants (substances at the start of the process) to
produce products (substances formed in the reaction).
• We describe these reactions in a number of ways including, Word Equations and Chemical Equations. Often we will
use both.
• Word Equations
o Word equations list the reactants and products using common names, classical names, and or stock names.
o Word equations are like a sketch of what the reaction is and are often the first step used in analysis.
o Word equations are very effective in showing what happens in a reaction as they are very descriptive. But they
don’t provide any quantifiable information (we’ll need a chemical equation for this).
o Example:
iron + sulphur → iron (II) sulphide + energy
o These equations are very good at showing energy movement.
• Chemical Equations
o Chemical equations show the exact ratio of reactants to products using the chemical formulas
o Same Example:
Fe + S → FeS + energy
o These are the more useful equations from a chemistry point of view
o Notice that energy remains the same in each type of equation although it is sometime omitted.
o Chemical equations also typically show the state of the reactants/products as (s) solid, (g) gaseous, (l) liquid,
(aq) aqueous or dissolved in water.
Fe(s) + S(s) → FeS(s) + energy
o The chemical equations must be balanced, meaning that they obey the law of conservation of mass.
o In this example specifically, energy is also needed to initiate the reaction (not always shown in the equation) but
the energy released (exothermic) exceeds the initiation energy.
o <<see video>>
o And while we use these equations to predict the products, we have to be careful. In the above reaction, if the
sulphur were to ignite (note in the video they don’t use the flame to start it), it will likely produce SO2 or
sulphur dioxide (nasty)

C) Conservation of Mass:
• The Law of Conservation of Mass dates from Antoine Lavoisier's 1789 discovery that mass is neither created nor
destroyed in chemical reactions.
• The law of conservation of mass states:
In any given chemical reaction, the total mass of the reactants equals the total mass of the products
• This means that whatever amount of matter we start with must be accountable for in the products
• <<Burn a match>>
• In the case of burning match, we see that the product (soot, coals, ash etc.) weigh significantly less than the initial wood,
and in some situations the “match” completely disappears. Does this violate the law? No, the missing mass is
accounted for in the gases that are produced during the combustion, or in other words if we were able to capture all the
gases that were produced they, plus the ash, would be equal in mass to the initial log.
• Aside - Strictly speaking some energy has also left the system in the form of heat and light (Infrared and visible
electromagnetic radiation) but the amount of mass missing is too miniscule to measure and is ignored. Einstein’s
relationship between mass-energy is a subject for further study in grade 12 physics.

See next page

Notes:
Homework: begin C08
• <<light a candle and place under a bell jar until it goes out>>
• We “know” that the candle has consumed the oxygen under the jar (or at least enough to make combustion impossible)
and if we look closely we can see condensation as one of the products was water (vapour).
• We must be very careful in our experiments to ensure we account for the mass and possible products.

D) Introduction to Balancing Equations:

• The focus of next class will be on balancing chemical equations but we shall begin the process by introducing the
concept here.
• In order to preserve the law of conservation of mass, we must balance a chemical equation to ensure that all the
mass has been accounted for.
• It is important to note that balancing a chemical equation is not an artificial exercise done for neatness, but in fact how
the reaction will take place. If the reactants combine in a ratio of one to two to produce a product, and you start with
equal amounts of the two reactants, then at best one reactant will be completely used up and only half of the other one
will be.
• The Law of Constant Composition, established in 1799 by the French Chemist Joseph Louis Proust must also be
observed where it states:
In a pure compound, the elements are always present in the same definite proportion by mass.
• Hence water will always be made up in a ratio of one oxygen atom to two hydrogen atoms (or 2g Hydrogen to 16g
Oxygen). The masses must always be in that 2:16 (or 1:8 ratio) to make water.
• Another important note is the difference between coefficients and subscripts in chemical formulas. The subscripts
detail the ratio of atoms in a molecule and cannot change (unless a new product is produced), while the coefficients
indicate the number/amount of each type of molecule. In balancing only the coefficients can be changed.
• One aspect of balancing will be to count atoms so a little practice with coefficients vs subscripts:

Count the numbers of each type of atom in the following compounds:

• CO2 - 1 C, 2 O
• 5 CO2 - 5 C, 10 O
• Ca(OH)2 - 1 Ca, 2 O, 2H
• K4Fe(CN)6 - 4 K, 1 Fe, 6 C, 6 N
• Fe2(SO4)3 - 2 Fe, 3 S, 12 O
• 5 Fe2(SO4)3 - 10 Fe, 15 S, 60 O