The student's claim is incorrect because the mass of a system is always conserved in a chemical reaction, according to the law of conservation of mass. The observation can be explained by a couple of possibilities:
1. Evaporation: It is possible that one or both of the liquids underwent some evaporation during the process, leading to a decrease in the overall mass. The mass lost due to evaporation would not be included in the measured mass of the combined liquid, resulting in a lower mass than the sum of the two separate liquids.
2. Mixing: If the two liquids have different densities, mixing them together can result in a change in volume, and hence, a change in mass. For example, if one liquid is more dense than the other, the combined liquid may have a lower mass as a result of the change in volume.
In both cases, the mass is conserved overall, but the student's claim fails to take into account these possible explanations for the observed mass discrepancy.
Student combines two liquids in a beaker she observes the mass of the combined liquid and less than the mass of the two separate liquids the student claims that this observation shows at the matter is not a conserved in chemical reactions which statement explains why the students claim is incorrect
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