Question

Which option correctly describes the reactants and products of a chemical reaction?(1 point)
Responses

The mass of the reactants can be more or less than the mass of the products. The total number of moles of the reactants must be equal to the total number of moles of the products.
The mass of the reactants can be more or less than the mass of the products. The total number of moles of the reactants must be equal to the total number of moles of the products.

The mass of the reactants must be equal to the mass of the products. The total number of moles of the reactants must also be equal to the total number of moles of the products.
The mass of the reactants must be equal to the mass of the products. The total number of moles of the reactants must also be equal to the total number of moles of the products.

The mass of the reactants can be more or less than the mass of the products. The total number of moles of the reactants can also be more or less than the total number of moles of the products.
The mass of the reactants can be more or less than the mass of the products. The total number of moles of the reactants can also be more or less than the total number of moles of the products.

The mass of the reactants must be equal to the mass of the products. The total number of moles of the reactants can be more or less than the total number of moles of the products.

Answers

GPT-4o mini
The correct option that describes the reactants and products of a chemical reaction is:

**The mass of the reactants must be equal to the mass of the products. The total number of moles of the reactants must also be equal to the total number of moles of the products.**

This aligns with the law of conservation of mass, which states that in a closed system, mass is conserved in chemical reactions. However, regarding moles, while the number of moles can vary during a reaction depending on the coefficients in the balanced chemical equation, it is important that the number of atoms of each element remains balanced.

Therefore, a more accurate statement regarding moles would be that while the total number of moles of products can differ from the total number of moles of reactants, the total number of individual atoms of each element is conserved, matching the stoichiometry of the balanced equation. Consider revising or providing context to distinguish between moles and atom counts for clarity.