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Matter is neither created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction ?

 

 

It is also called the Law of conservation of mass. It was proposed by Antoine Lavoisier.

According to this law, in a closed system, mass can neither be created nor be destroyed. In other words it means that in a closed system there is no change in the total mass of the initial matter to the mass of the final matter. Thus, no energy or mass is lost or gained by the system. Energy can change form but the mass shall remain unchanged. So when light or physical energy is transformed into particles, these particles will contribute exactly the same mass as the light or physical energy had contributed to the system.

In chemistry, when a reaction takes place in a closed system, then the mass of the reactants will be equal to the products formed. Hence, no mass is lost during the process.

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Yes.This saying is part of Dalton's Atomic Theory

 
1) All matter is made of atoms. Atoms are indivisible and indestructible. (he did not know of protons, neutrons, or electrons)
 
2) All atoms of a given element are identical in mass and properties (He did not know of Isotopes or Ions)
 
3) Compounds are formed by a combination of two or more different kinds of atoms.
 
4) A chemical reaction is a rearrangement of atoms. (But not a destruction of atoms)
 
5) The atoms of a given element are different from those of any other element; the atoms of different elements can be distinguished from one another by their respective relative atomic weights.
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Dalton's Atomic Theory

 

Democritus first suggested the existence of the atom but it took almost two millennia before the atom was placed on a solid foothold as a fundamental chemical object by John Dalton (1766-1844). Although two centuries old, Dalton's atomic theory remains valid in modern chemical thought.

 

 

 Dalton's Atomic Theory

 

1) All matter is made of atoms. Atoms are indivisible and indestructible.

2) All atoms of a given element are identical in mass and properties

3) Compounds are formed by a combination of two or more different kinds of atoms.

4) A chemical reaction is arearrangement of atoms.

Modern atomic theory is, of course, a little more involved than Dalton's theory but the essence of Dalton's theory remains valid. Today we know that atoms can be destroyed via nuclear reactions but not by chemical reactions. Also, there are different kinds of atoms (differing by their masses) within an element that are known as "isotopes", but isotopes of an element have the same chemical properties.

Many heretofore unexplained chemical phenomena were quickly explained by Dalton with his theory. Dalton's theory quickly became the theoretical foundation in chemistry.

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