The Law of Conservation of Matter is a fundamental principle in chemistry. Which statement accurately summarizes this law?

The mass of reactants must equal the mass of products.

The volume of reactants is always conserved in a reaction.

Energy is neither created nor destroyed, only transformed.

In any reaction, a visible solid product must be formed.

A student dissolves an effervescent tablet in an open beaker of water. They measure the mass before and after the bubbling stops and find the final mass is lower. Why does this observation NOT violate the Law of Conservation of Matter?

The law does not apply to reactions that occur in water.

Some of the tablet's mass was converted into heat energy.

A gas was produced and escaped from the container, carrying mass with it.

The water dissolved the tablet, which is a physical process that inherently reduces the total mass of the system.

The liquid was destroyed during the reaction.

The container must have developed a leak that let extra air in.

The liquid evaporated or reacted to form a gas.

The reaction failed to follow the known laws of chemistry.

It is impossible to determine without seeing the reaction.

It will increase as new matter is created.

It will decrease as the CO2 gas escapes.

It will first increase, then decrease rapidly.