An ice cube is left on the kitchen counter. After some time, the ice cube melts into a small puddle of water.
According to the law of conservation of mass, how does the mass of the puddle of water compare to the mass of the original ice cube?
According to the law of conservation of mass, mass cannot be created or destroyed in a closed system. Therefore, the mass of the puddle of water would be equal to the mass of the original ice cube.
According to the law of conservation of mass, the mass of the puddle of water should be equal to the mass of the original ice cube. This law states that mass is neither created nor destroyed during a physical or chemical change, but it is merely transformed from one form to another. In this case, the ice cube transformed into water through melting, so the mass of the water puddle should be the same as the mass of the ice cube.
The law of conservation of mass states that mass is neither created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction or a physical change. In the case of the ice cube melting into a puddle of water, it is still the same substance (water) and there is no change in the total mass.
To understand this, we can break it down like this:
1. Start with the mass of the original ice cube. You can find this by using a scale to measure the mass of the ice cube before it starts melting. Let's say it weighs 50 grams.
2. As the ice cube melts, it undergoes a physical change from a solid to a liquid state. However, the mass of the water molecules remains the same, as no mass is lost or gained during this transformation.
3. By the end of the melting process, the ice cube has turned into a puddle of water. If no water evaporates or is lost during the melting, the mass of the puddle of water will be exactly the same as the mass of the original ice cube, in this case, 50 grams.
In conclusion, according to the law of conservation of mass, the mass of the puddle of water will be equal to the mass of the original ice cube.