Question Video: Change in Mass in the Melting of Tin | Nagwa Question Video: Change in Mass in the Melting of Tin | Nagwa

Question Video: Change in Mass in the Melting of Tin Chemistry • First Year of Secondary School

A 100 g sample of tin undergoes a phase change from solid to liquid. Is the mass of liquid tin equal to, less than, or greater than the mass of tin in the original sample?

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Video Transcript

A 100-gram sample of tin undergoes a phase change from solid to liquid. Is the mass of liquid tin equal to, less than, or greater than the mass of tin in the original sample?

So what we have is 100 grams of solid tin where the atoms of tin are all locked in place. This tin has undergone a phase change from solid to liquid, so it’s melted. And the atoms are now free to move around one another. What we need to answer is whether the mass of the liquid tin has gained mass, lost mass, or kept the same mass as the original solid tin. The law of conservation of mass says the mass of a closed system cannot change. A phase change is an example of a physical process where there’s no chemical change. For a physical process like this, the mass before equals the mass after.

In this scenario, our system consists of all the tin atoms. After melting, the system still contains all the original atoms of tin. So the mass of the system is the same. So the mass of liquid tin is 100 grams. The mass of liquid tin is, therefore, equal to the mass of tin in the original sample.

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