Question

Sodium carbonate reacts with ethanoic acid to form sodium ethanote, caron dioxide and water. In an experiment, 5.3g of sodium carbonate reacted with 6 g of ethanoic acid to form 8.2 g of sodium ethanoate, `2.2 g` of carbon dioxide and `0.9 g` of water. Show that this data varifies the law of conservation of mass.

Answer 1

All that we have to do in this problem is to calculate the mass of reactants and products separately, and then compare the two. If the two masses are equal, then the law of conservation of mass gets verified. The given reaction can be written as :

(i) Sodium carbonate and ethanoic acid are reactants.
So, mass of reactents `= underset("carbonate")("Mass of sodium") + underset("acid")("Mass of ethonic")`
`= 5.3 + 6`
`= 113.6 g`
(ii) Sodium ethanoate, carbon dioxide and water are products. `("......."1)`
So, Mass of products `= underset("ethanoate")("Mass of sodium") + underset("dioxide")("Mass of carbon") + underset("water")("Mass of")`
`= 8.2 + 2.2 + 0.9`
`= 11.3 g`
We find that of the mass of reactants is `11.3 g` and the mass of products is also `11.3 g`. Since the mass of products is euqal of products is euqal to the mass of reactants, the given data verifies the law of conservation of mass.