How does the law of conservation of mass relate to photosynthesis and respiration chemical equations?

Answer 1

The law of conservation of energy states that the amount of energy in a closed system is the same. The earth isn't a closed system, as the sun's radiant energy is constantly beaming down and heat is constantly seeping out of the atmosphere. Plants gain energy from the sun and then use that energy to create their own food.

Answer 2

The law of conservation of mass states that matter can not be created nor destroyed.

Photosynthesis turns energy from sunlight into food as it is mixed with other minerals it absorbs through the ground. Its food doesn't just magically appear, it comes from some other place. As you can see its food didn't just come out of no whereaccording too that scientific law.

To put it simply, the process of photosynthesis is a non-spontaneous and endothermic reaction.

What this means is that it stores energy in chemical bonds, the energy comes from sunlight and ambient heat. Physically, this is similar to putting an object at the top of a ramp.

Lets take a ball for example. Balls do not roll up hill on there own, in the same way that lower energy bonds are favored over higher energy bonds, which makes it non-spontaneous. Endothermic means that it takes energy to do, as opposed to giving off energy when it happens. Back to the ball analogy, pushing it up hill is 'endothermic' as your turn real kinetic energy (the work you do on the ball) into potential energy (the energy it is poised to produce as soon as you tip it back down). This also demonstrates reversability, which I will tye into conservation of mass soon, and the real fun of photosynthesis.

The concept of reversability is what makes photosynthesis important. You see, when you take sugar and burn it, it gives off energy. In fact, it gives off as much energy as it took to make it! There is some loss of useful energy in a system, but in total the energy remains the same. So, when you take CO2 and H2O and energy to make sugar, reversability says that when you burn that sugar back into CO2 and H2O you get back the same ammount of energy! This concept is what enables life as we know it to exist.

This is also the conservation of mass, as nothing is lost in this reaction, just reconfigured.

So, in conclusion, turning CO2 and H2O into sugar takes energy, like pushing a ball uphill. Then when you need that energy, you turn that sugar back into simple molecules that are more energetically favored, which is like pushing the ball back down the ramp, resulting in useful energy. Nothing is gained or lost, just transferred accross time.

Answer 3

Photosynthesis takes carbon dioxide and water from the atmosphere and uses sunlight as the source of energy. The products are glucose and water.

The total number of atoms released by photosynthesis are exactly equal to number of the atoms input. The equation is:

6CO2 + 6H2O + sunlight energy = C6H12O6 + 6O2 so 36 atoms on each side of the equation.

Photosynthesis has conserved the mass of material, and in this way followed the law of conservation of mass.

Photo synthesis also follows the law of conservation of energy. The energy of sunlight used in the process of photosynthesis is absorbed by the molecules of carbon-dioxide before they can separate in carbon and oxygen molecules. This absorbed energy is present in the carbon and oxygen molecules and can be releases again as energy of combustion produced when carbon and oxygen combine to produce carbon dioxide.

Answer 4

The numbers written in your chemical reaction represent the number of mole of a certain molecule.

A mole is 6,23X1023 molecule/atom of a substance.

The mass of one mole will vary depending on the substance since different atoms have different mass, however if you would calculate the mass of the reactant, it would be the exact same as the product.

Also you should be able to have the same number of atom on each side of a reaction.

example: HCl + NaOH -> NaCl + H2O

reactant side: 2 H, 1 Cl, 1 Na and 1 O

Product side: 2 H, 1 Cl, 1 Na and 1 O as well

Answer 5

Must have same mass on both sides of equation.

Answer 6

The mass of reactants is equal to the mass of products.