The hypothesis made by the scientist that the mass of the final product will be 100g is supported by the Law of Conservation of Mass. This law states that in a closed system, the total mass of reactants must equal the total mass of products in a chemical reaction. According to this law, the mass of the starting materials (in this case, the 92.6g of Hg and 7.4g of O) should equal the mass of the products formed after the reaction takes place.
If you add the masses of the reactants:
- Mass of Hg = 92.6g
- Mass of O = 7.4g
- Total mass of reactants = 92.6g + 7.4g = 100g
Thus, assuming the reaction goes to completion and no mass is lost, the final product's mass should indeed be 100g. This demonstrates that the scientist's hypothesis is consistent with the Law of Conservation of Mass.