Early chemists, known at the time as alchemists, had a difficult time understanding the Law of Conservation of Mass. Using the burning of wood as an example, what property of matter made this law difficult for early scientists to understand?
The law of conservation of mass states that, for any closed system, the mass of the system must remain constant. So, in other words, mass cannot be created nor destroyed. In a burning log, the initial mass of the wood and the ashes that are left behind after it burns are different, which would seem to violate the law of conservation of mass.
The law of conservation of mass states that, for any isolated system, the mass can neither be created nor be destroyed
After burning a log, the remains that are left behind after it burns are lesser than what would initially seem.
There is a difference in mass before the burning of the log after the burning of the log. This seems like a violation of the law of conservation of mass, which would have made it difficult for early chemists to understand it.
But if we consider the surroundings as a system then we can see that the mass that is lost in burning is actually converted into smoke and energy or forming other forms of substances.
Then considering the whole system we can see that the mass and energy are conserved and interrelated.
