Understanding the Law of

Conservation of Mass
 Who Discovered this Law?
• 1789, France
• Antoine Lavoisier
• Nobleman
• Statesman
• Scientist
• Used one of the first analytical mass balances to
prove this law.
• Executed on the guillotine during the French
Revolution.
• He is known as the “Father of Chemistry”
because he made it a quantitative science.
What does the Law of Conservation
of Mass State?
• During any chemical reaction, matter is
neither created nor destroyed. Mass is
conserved from reactants to products.

• Therefore,
MASS REACTANTS = MASS PRODUCTS
What does the law really mean?
CH4 (g) + 2O2 (g)  CO2 (g) + 2H2O (l)

methane gas oxygen gas carbon dioxide gas water

Reactants: methane gas (CH4) and oxygen gas (O2)

Products: carbon dioxide gas (CO2) and water (H2O)

“” means yields.

Little numbers (subscripts) – tell how many of a particular type of

atom are inside of a molecule.
(ex. 4 hydrogen atoms per methane molecule)
Big numbers (coefficients) – tell how many of each particle is
involved in the reaction.
(ex. 2 molecules of oxygen react with 1 molecule of methane)
 How would you draw this reaction as
particles and show conservation of mass?
CH4 (g) + 2O2 (g)  CO2 (g) + 2H2O (l)

methane gas oxygen gas carbon dioxide gas water

How does this picture show that particles and therefore mass are conserved
from reactant’s side to product’s side?
What is all that really happens to the particles in a chemical reaction?
Can atoms of one type be changed into (transformed) atoms of another type
during a chemical reaction?
 Note about showing “conservation” in
particle diagrams
If you have the reaction:
A2 + B2 A3B

You would show conservation by drawing

+ 

3A2 + 1B2  2A3B

Do not simply add stray “atoms” to molecules. It changes them to a different
substance.
 Solving simple math problems involving the
Law of Conservation of Mass
– copy both solution and answer!
MASS REACTANTS = MASS PRODUCTS

• If 16 grams of CH4 reacts completely with

64 grams of O2, what mass of products
should form?
CH4 (g) + 2O2 (g)  CO2 (g) + 2H2O (l)

methane gas oxygen gas carbon dioxide gas water

16g + 64g = Xg
80 g = X
 Another Problem…
• If 32 grams of CH4 reacts completely with
128 g of O2, and 88 g of CO2 forms, how
many grams of H2O form?
CH4 (g) + 2O2 (g)  CO2 (g) + 2H2O (l)

methane gas oxygen gas carbon dioxide gas water

32 g + 128 g = 88 g + X
160 g = 88 g + X
72 g = X
 Another Problem…
• If 8 grams of CH4 react completely with
oxygen, and 22 g of CO2 and 9 g of H2O
form, how much oxygen (O2) was
consumed?
CH4 (g) + 2O2 (g)  CO2 (g) + 2H2O (l)

methane gas oxygen gas carbon dioxide gas water

8g + X = 22 g + 9g
8g + X = 31 g
X = 23 g
 Last Problem
• 4 grams of CH4 reacts with 20 g of O2. The CH4
is used up completely but there is some O2 left
over. Given that 20 grams of product was
formed, how much oxygen was used up?
CH4 (g) + 2O2 (g)  CO2 (g) + 2H2O (l)

methane gas oxygen gas carbon dioxide gas water

4g + X = 20 g
X = 16 grams oxygen used up

and 20 g oxygen available – 16 grams used =

4 g oxygen left over.