Question
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You place 3000 grams of firewood into your fireplace and burn it. The mass of the ash is less than the original 3000 grams of wood placed into the fireplace. After watching the video, explain how the mass of the ash is less than than the 3000 grams originally placed into the fireplace. Does the law of conservation of mass apply to this fire? Use 1-2 sentences to explain this.
(3 points)
Video Player
You place 3000 grams of firewood into your fireplace and burn it. The mass of the ash is less than the original 3000 grams of wood placed into the fireplace. After watching the video, explain how the mass of the ash is less than than the 3000 grams originally placed into the fireplace. Does the law of conservation of mass apply to this fire? Use 1-2 sentences to explain this.
(3 points)
Answers
GPT-4o mini
When the firewood is burned, it undergoes a chemical reaction called combustion, which converts the wood into gases, heat, and ash. The mass of the ash is less than the original 3000 grams because a significant portion of the wood's mass is transformed into gases (like carbon dioxide and water vapor) that are released into the atmosphere, demonstrating that while mass is conserved in total, it changes form during the reaction. Therefore, the law of conservation of mass still applies, as the total mass of the reactants (wood) equals the mass of the products (ash and gases) when accounted for.