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Chemical Reaction Lab Report

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Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space. During the late eighteenth century, scientists began to use qualitative tools to study and monitor chemical changes. By carefully measuring mass before and after many chemical reactions, it was observed that, although chemical changes occurred, the total mass involved in the reaction remained constant. Assuming this was true for all reactions, chemists transformed this observation into a scientific law; the law of conservation of matter, which states that mass is neither created nor destroyed during a chemical reaction, it is conserved. In other words, the mass of the reactants equals the mass of the products.

Chemists classify chemical reactions in order to organize many reactions that occur daily. Knowing the categories of chemical reactions can …show more content…

A + B → AB

The synthesis reaction between sulfur dioxide and oxygen can also be classified as a combustion reaction, in which oxygen combines with a substance and releases energy in the form of heat and light. It occurs between hydrogen and oxygen when hydrogen is heated. Water is formed during the reaction and a large amount of energy is released.

Some chemical reactions are the opposite of synthesis reactions, they are classified as decomposition reactions, in which a single compound breaks down into two or more elements or new compound.
AB → A+ B

In contrast to synthesis, combustion, and decomposition reactions, many chemical reactions are replacement (also called displacement) reactions and involve the replacement of an element in a compound. There are two types of replacement reactions; single replacement reaction, in which the atoms of one element replace the atoms of another element in a compound, A + BX -> AX + B; and double replacement reactions, in which an exchange of ions between two compounds is involved,
AX + BY → AY +

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