Question

Chemical equations must be balanced because

a
the mass of the products is always greater than the mass of the reactants.
b
the mass of the reactants is always greater than the mass of the products.
c
mass is determined by a chemical reaction.
d
mass can neither be created nor destroyed.

Answers

GPT-4o mini
The correct answer is:

**d** mass can neither be created nor destroyed.

This principle is known as the law of conservation of mass, which states that in a chemical reaction, the total mass of the reactants must equal the total mass of the products. Therefore, balancing chemical equations is necessary to reflect this conservation of mass.