From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The
law of conservation of mass
states that
mass
can neither be created nor
destroyed
in a chemical reaction. Thus, the amount of
matter
cannot change.
Sir Antoine Lavoisier
promoted this idea.
This law says that when a
chemical reaction
rearranges atoms into a new product, the
mass
of the reactants (
chemicals
before the chemical reaction) is the same as the mass of the
products
(the new
chemicals
made). More simply, whatever you do, you will still have the same amount of stuff.
The law is accurate for all chemical reactions. However, certain
nuclear reactions
(fusion and fission) can convert a small part of the
mass into energy
. But if this energy is turned back into mass, you will have the same amount of mass.
The principle of conservation of mass was first outlined by
Mikhail Lomonosov
(1711–1765) in 1748. He proved it by experiments?though this is sometimes challenged.
[1]
Antoine Lavoisier
(1743–1794) had expressed these ideas in 1774. Others whose ideas pre-dated the work of Lavoisier include
Joseph Black
(1728–1799),
Henry Cavendish
(1731–1810), and
Jean Rey
(1583–1645).
[2]
The law of conservation of mass is one of the
conservation laws
of physics. Each of these laws says that something is never created or destroyed.
- ↑
*
Pomper, Philip (1962). "Lomonosov and the discovery of the law of the conservation of matter in chemical transformations".
Ambix
.
10
(3): 119?127.
doi
:
10.1179/amb.1962.10.3.119
.
Lomonosov, Mikhail Vasil’evich (1970).
Mikhail Vasil'evich Lomonosov on the corpuscular theory
. Henry M. Leicester (transl.). Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Introduction, p. 25.
- ↑
[1]
. Whitaker, Robert D. 1975.
Journal of Chemical Education
,
52
(10) 658-659.