carbon dioxide, 0.9 g water and 8.2 g of sodium acetate. Show that these observations are in agreement with the law of conservation of mass.
sodium carbonate + acetic acid → sodium acetate + carbon dioxide + water
Law of conservation of mass states that in a closed system, the total mass of reactants must be equal to the total mass of the products. In this case, the reactants are sodium carbonate and acetic acid, and the products are sodium acetate, carbon dioxide, and water.
Reactants:
- Sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) mass = 5.3 g
- Acetic acid (CH3COOH) mass = 6 g
- Total reactants mass = 5.3 g + 6 g = 11.3 g
Products:
- Sodium acetate (CH3COONa) mass = 8.2 g
- Carbon dioxide (CO2) mass = 2.2 g
- Water (H2O) mass = 0.9 g
- Total products mass = 8.2 g + 2.2 g + 0.9 g = 11.3 g
Balanced Reaction: 2CH3COOH(l) + Na2CO3(s) → 2CH3COONa(aq) + CO2(g) + H2O(l)Â
As you can see, the total mass of the reactants (11.3 g) is equal to the total mass of the products (11.3 g). This confirms that the law of conservation of mass holds true in this reaction. Even though the masses weren’t round numbers in the beginning, the starting and ending masses are identical within the limits of measurement, which is often the case in real-world experiments.