according to the law of conservation of mass, matter is neither destroyed nor created.Then why,when a log of wood is burnt in air, the mass of ash formed is very little in comparison to the mass of the log of wood burnt?
Answers
Answer:
The log plus oxygen has a certain mass. The ashes plus the carbon dioxide and water (and perhaps a few other compounds) must have a combined mass which totals the same as the combined mass of the log and oxygen. The law does not state that the total mass before and after the reaction must be the mass of the solids only
Explanation:
It's a beautiful cycle. This is the equation at work:
H20 + CO2 + energy <=> cellulose + O2
The trees are created from air, water and sunlight, left to right in my equation, so sunlight is the main source of energy originally.
The carbon dioxide is assembled into low entropy, high energy fibers that create cells in the tree or plant. Paper consists of cellulose fibers. They contain carbon in a form that holds more energy than carbon dioxide.
When paper is made the tree is ground up and the resins that help glue it together are washed out by chemicals. The fibres are washed and pressed into sheets. The fibres are tangled and stick to eachother as they dry to make paper.
When you burn it, Oxygen from the air combines and turns it back into water and carbon dioxide, releasing the energy again. That's right to left, in my equation.
The plants and trees also contribute to oxygen levels. At night the trees release oxygen, did you know? So we need trees, they play a vital role in life on earth. That is why you need to eat and breathe, that same oxygen is burning your food as glucose, and you breathe out CO2, you are a furnace and a chimney.
So plants are the assemblers doing useful jobs, whereas we are like cars, just consuming and burning what we can find.
Next time you hear someone talking about humans as creating order out of disorder, remember that we are really just mobile barbecues, but instead spare a thought for the plants and trees that are far more constructive by nature. They are not smart because they don't move around, but they don't need to, their role is to build, not consume.
