The law of conservation of mass states that the mass before the reaction has to equal the mass after the reaction. Atoms are not created and they are not destroy when wood burns the ashes at the end have less mass than the wood did before it burned what happed to the rest of the mas
The law of conservation of mass states that mass is neither created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction. However, in the case of wood burning, it may seem like some mass is lost.
When wood burns, it undergoes a chemical reaction called combustion. This reaction involves the wood combining with oxygen from the air to produce carbon dioxide, water vapor, and other byproducts.
The ashes left behind after wood burning contain the remaining elements of the wood that did not participate in the combustion reaction. However, some of the mass of the wood is converted into gases (such as carbon dioxide and water vapor) that are released into the air during combustion. This can create an illusion that mass is lost.
In reality, the mass of the gases and other byproducts is still accounted for when considering the conservation of mass. So, while the ashes have less mass than the original piece of wood, the mass of the released gases and byproducts accounts for this discrepancy.