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The Law of Conservation of Mass

As part of her chemistry class, Jess R. ('20), explored the law of conservation of mass. 
Scientist Antoine Lavoisier experimented burning different substances in air, and he observed that when these substances combined with air they made new materials which weighed more than the original substances. Lavoisier discovered that the reason the new materials weighed more was because the air in which the substances were burned had lost weight. The mass was not lost, rather it was transferred. Thus, Lavoisier established the Law of Conservation of Mass, this law states that mass can’t be lost or gained during a chemical reaction. This law applies to our everyday lives in so many different ways- we see it everywhere whether we are making dinner or balancing equations in science class. For instance, when you boil a pot of water with a lid and you see that some of the liquid is gone, you might wonder how it just disappeared. In reality the matter is not destroyed and it has not disappeared, it just changed phases. Some of the liquid water turns into water vapor as a result of heat being added to it, and the water vapor condenses on the lid of the pot. The mass is fully conserved, although it may take different forms after undergoing a chemical reaction. The mass of the system (pot, lid, water vapor, and liquid water) will be the exact same as the original mass of the system (pot, lid, liquid water). Lavoisier's law can also be applied to a burning fire. When wood burns in a fire, it reacts with oxygen and forms ashes, carbon dioxide, and water vapor. The gases disperse into the surrounding air, and all we can see are the ashes left behind. While it may look like mass has disappeared, if you measure the mass of the wood before it burned and the oxygen used by the fire it would be equal to the mass of the products left from the reaction. Lastly, this concept applies in a less literal way. As a kid after losing something you may have heard something along the lines of “well, it didn’t just disappear!” Nothing, large or small, solid or liquid or gas, can ever just disappear. Although you may not be able to see it, it still exists. This is because, as Lavoisier’s rule claims, matter cannot be created nor destroyed. You may have lost that little toy car in a pile of clothes, but if you massed everything in your room again collectively it would have the same mass as it did prior to losing a toy.

​
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  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • HOW TO SUBMIT
  • Past Publications
    • 2018 Publication >
      • Artistic Creations
      • Historical and Current Explanations
      • Mathematic and Scientific Exploration
      • Scientific Research
    • 2017 Publication >
      • Artistic Creations
      • Historical and Current Explanations
      • Mathematic and Scientific Exploration
      • Reactions and Responses
      • Scientific Research
    • 2016 Publication >
      • Historical and Current Explanations
      • Mathematic and Scientific Explorations
      • Scientific Research
      • Reactions and Responses
      • Artistic Creations
    • 2015 Publication >
      • Historical and Current Explanations >
        • Bell Curves
        • Birds Vs. Turbines
        • Energy in the Obama Era
        • The Future of Neuroscience
        • Gender Gap in Math
        • GMOs--Yes or No?
        • The History of Minecraft: How a Swedish Indie Game Came to Dominate the World
        • The Effect of Prozac on the Brain
        • Philae Lander's Discovery of Organic Molecules
        • Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Turbines
        • Your Own Worst Enemy: An Overview of Lupus
        • The Methylhex Ban
        • The Effect of Lyme Disease on the Immune system
        • Infectious Mononucleosis
        • Replacing CFCs
        • The Switch
      • Mathematic and Scientific Explorations >
        • The 43rd Figure
        • The Clock
        • The Collatz Conjecture
        • Constructing a Soccer Ball
        • Determining how Ballparks Affect Batter's Ability to Create Hits
        • The Rotating Conundrum
        • Pythagorean Puzzle
        • Mathematic and Scientific Explorations
        • Kinetics Lab
        • Math in the Restaurant Business
        • Math as a Vessel for Social Change
        • Sustainability of Bottled Vs. Tap Water
        • Thoughts on the Lottery
        • Understanding Player Efficiency Rating
      • Scientific Research >
        • Communicating With Computers
        • The Mystery of Asthma
        • The Nanoscopic War Against Cancer
        • Phytochemistry
        • Solving the energy crisis with Intermediate Band Solar Cells
        • A Pain That Never Ends
        • Rapamycin Resistance
        • Ampacity of a Single Core Horizontal Cable
        • Morphological Properties of Texting Acronym Formation
        • cGAS and STING Expression
      • Reactions and Responses >
        • Can Humans Survive the Climate Crisis?
        • My Experience as a Teacher's Assistant
        • Ted Talk Responses
        • Teens For Food Justice
      • Artistic Creations >
        • Chandelier
        • Deltoidal Hexacontrahedon
        • Dodecahedron Card Trick
        • Eye of the Triangle
        • Free Radric Delantic Davis
        • The Grid
        • What Does A Randomly Composed Song Sound Like?
        • Science Wing Mural
    • 2014 Publication >
      • Cover Photo
      • Artistic Creations >
        • Art Using the Fibonacci Sequence
        • Computer Generated Architecture and Designs
        • Mathematical Landscape
        • Math Art
        • Math in Music
      • Historical and Current Explanations >
        • Algae Bio-Fuel
        • An Energy Alternative
        • Clean Energy In Transportation
        • Calorie Restriction
        • Creating Energy in the Modern World
        • Dietary Intervention Impact on Gut Microbial Gene Richness
        • Earthly Applications for NASA Technology
        • Explaining Relative Motion
        • Exploring Artificial Inteligence
        • Gamma Function
        • How Leaves Work
        • Hydrogen Fuel Cells
        • Music and Brain Development
        • Programming Calculators
        • The Science of Microsatellites
        • Sci-Fi Taser
        • Sloane's Gap
        • Sustainable Energy: Why Some Ideas Shine Brighter than Others
        • Understanding The Galvanic Cell
        • The Virus: Our Unforeseen Philosopher's Stone
        • What Are Fuel Cells and How Do They Work?
      • Mathematic and Scientific Explorations >
        • Astrocytes Expressing ALS-Linked Mutated SOD1 Release Factors Selectively Toxic to Motor Neurons
        • Big Bang
        • Dictyostelium Discoideum
        • The Future of Solar Cell Technology
        • And Many More...
      • Reactions and Responses >
        • Alternative Energy Sources, New but Unused
        • An Insight Into the Curious World of Ethnobotany
        • Challenging What We Think We Know
        • The Current State of American Education
        • Discovering New Numbers
        • Interview With an Architect
        • Life of Pi Response
        • Mathematical Art Video Commentary
        • Missing from Science Class
        • The Museum of Math
        • The Inside Scoop on a Real Mathematician
    • 2013 Publication
  • 2019 Publication
    • Scientific Research
    • Mathematical Exploration
    • Scientific Exploration
    • Computer Science