Magnesium hydroxide reacts with nitric acid to produce magnesium nitrate and water.

Mg(OH)2+2HNO3→Mg(NO3)2+2H2O

In one to two sentences, explain how because this chemical equation is balanced, it demonstrates that matter is neither created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction.

1 answer

The balanced chemical equation shows that the number of atoms of each element on the reactant side is equal to the number of atoms on the product side, confirming that during the reaction, matter is conserved and neither created nor destroyed. This adherence to the law of conservation of mass illustrates that the total mass of reactants equals the total mass of products.