A student combines two liquids in a beaker. She observes that the mass of the combined liquid is less than the mass of the two separate liquids. The student claims that this observation shows that matter is not conserved in chemical reactions. Which statement explains why the student's claim is incorrect? (1 point)

Question

A student combines two liquids in a beaker. She observes that the mass of the combined liquid is less than the mass of the two separate liquids. The student claims that this observation shows that matter is not conserved in chemical reactions. Which statement explains why the student's claim is incorrect? (1 point)
• The reaction produced a gas that escaped the beaker.
• The reaction did not change the physical properties of the liquids.
• The product contained fewer atoms than the reactants.
The combined liquid was warmer than the two separate liquids.

GPT-4o mini · Answer

The correct statement that explains why the student's claim is incorrect is: The reaction produced a gas that escaped the beaker.

This indicates that some of the matter (in the form of gas) was lost during the process, which is why the mass of the combined liquid is less than the mass of the two separate liquids. In closed systems, matter is conserved, but in this case, matter that was once part of the mixture escaped and was not accounted for in the total mass.