Conservation of Matter

Before Video

• Matter is anything that has weight and takes up space.

• No. Matter never just vanishes. When it seems to disappear it is just changing from one form to another. If it turns into a gas you can't see it with your naked eye. All matter is conserved, it just changes forms.

• When water is heated it changes form from liquid to gas. The gas then escapes into the air.

• The phrase “conservation of matter” describes how the amount of matter stays the same, even if it changes form.

After Video

• The sugar dissolves into the water. It is still there, it simply changes into a form we can't see.

• The sugar water weights 175 grams which is the same as all the sugar (25g) plus all the water (150g). This is evidence that the sugar is still there even though we can’t see it.

• As the water is heated it changes forms from liquid to gas. The sugar is left behind as a solid, providing us with evidence that it was in there the whole time.

• When the sugar and baking soda were heated, a chemical reaction caused the ingredients to release gases that formed bubbles. Those bubbles expanded and made the snake look much larger than the original amount of ingredients.

• When Zoe weighs the ingredients (sugar and baking soda), it weighs 25 grams in total. When she weighs the “snake” it weighs 23 grams. This is because some carbon dioxide gas produced during the chemical reaction escapes into the air.

• The “smoke” coming from dry ice is actually carbon dioxide gas, which is turning from a solid into a gas. (Dry ice, or solid carbon dioxide, changes directly from a solid to a gas without becoming a liquid first.)

• No. If the bottle were not sealed by the balloon, the weight before and after would not be the same because the gas would escape into the air. In this case it would weigh less.

• When candle wax burns, it is changing into gases that are released into the air. As that gas escapes, it is no longer part of the candle so the scale doesn't account for it.