A camper burned a piece of paper to start a campfire.
Is burning paper a physical or chemical change? Why?
If you said chemical, what are the reactants and products?
The ash has less mass than the paper. Was mass conserved during the reaction? Explain.
Answer (2)
A camper burning a piece of paper to start a campfire is a chemical change - the way you can think of this is to consider the fact that the paper cannot be put back together and has become ash, so this is therefore a chemical change. The carbon in the paper is oxidized into other chemical including carbon dioxide. Mass was conserved during this reaction because the mass is still the same, just in a different form.
Burning paper is a chemical change because it transforms into new substances, including ash, carbon dioxide, and water vapor. Although the ash has less mass, the total mass is conserved when considering all reactants and products, including the gases that escape. This principle is supported by the Law of Conservation of Mass, which states that mass is neither created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction.
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