If 23.6 grams of a substance reacts with 42.5 grams of another substance, what would we expect the mass of the products to be after the reaction?

The correct answer is 66.1 g

Explanation:

According to Law of Conservation of the Mass, the mass of an isolated system is neither created or destroyed during chemical reactions. It is transformed. So, in a chemical reaction, the atoms of reactants are reoganizated by forming other compounds but the mass is conserved. Thus, the total mass of reactants is always equal to the total mass of products. If 23.6 g of a substance reacts with 42.5 g of another substance, the total mass of the products will be equal to the total mass of reactants:

23.6 g + 42.5 g = 66.1 g reactants = 66.1 g products