The principle of conservation of matter states that matter cannot be created or destroyed in a closed system. In a chemical reaction, this can be illustrated by ensuring that the mass of the reactants equals the mass of the products.
An example of an equation that represents this principle is:
\[ \text{Reactants} \rightarrow \text{Products} \]
For a more specific illustration, consider the combustion of methane, represented by the balanced chemical equation:
\[ \text{CH}_4 + 2\text{O}_2 \rightarrow \text{CO}_2 + 2\text{H}_2\text{O} \]
In this equation:
- There is 1 carbon (C) atom in CH\(_4\), which corresponds to 1 carbon atom in CO\(_2\).
- There are 4 hydrogen (H) atoms in CH\(_4\), which correspond to 2 water (H\(_2\)O) molecules (2 x 2 = 4).
- There are 4 oxygen (O) atoms on the reactant side (2 x O\(_2\)), which match the 4 oxygen atoms in the products (2 in CO\(_2\) + 2 in 2H\(_2\)O).
This balanced equation shows that the number of each type of atom is conserved, thereby illustrating the conservation of matter.
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