In a chemical reaction, the law of conservation of mass states that mass is neither created nor destroyed. Therefore, the total mass of the products will be equal to the total mass of the reactants.
In this case, Connie and Dewayne combine 78 grams of potassium with 36 grams of water. To find the total mass of the products, you simply add the mass of the potassium and the mass of the water:
\[ \text{Total mass of reactants} = \text{Mass of potassium} + \text{Mass of water} \] \[ \text{Total mass of reactants} = 78 \text{ grams} + 36 \text{ grams} = 114 \text{ grams} \]
Therefore, they would expect the total mass of the products to be 114 grams, because according to the law of conservation of mass, the mass of the reactants before the reaction must equal the mass of the products after the reaction.
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