1. Activity 5: Investigating Mass Gain and Mass Loss

2. Conservation of Mass
(Except in nuclear reactions) the total mass of of the materials (solids, liquids, and gases) involved in any change in matter stays the same.
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3. Tracing Matter Process Tool
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4. Wetting a Sponge 30 20
What is your prediction of the mass of the wet sponge?
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5. Wetting Vermiculite 40 30
What is your prediction of the mass of the wet Vermiculite?
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6. Wetting a Sponge Prediction that follows Conservation of Mass 50 30 20
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7. Wetting Vermiculite Prediction that follows Conservation of Mass 70 4030
Prediction that follows Conservation of Mass
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8. Your Predictions and Measurements
When you measured the mass of the wet sponge and Vermiculite, how accurate were your predictions?
Do you think conservation of mass applies to wetting the sponge and Vermiculite?
Did the sponge and Vermiculite gain mass when you added water?
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9. Drying a Sponge What is your prediction of the mass of the dry sponge?50
What is your prediction of the mass of the dry sponge?
What happened to the mass of the water?
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10. Drying Vermiculite 70
What is your prediction of the mass of the dry Vermiculite?
What happened to the mass of the water?
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11. Drying a Sponge Prediction that follows Conservation of Mass 30 50 20
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12. Drying Vermiculite Prediction that follows Conservation of Mass 40 7030
Prediction that follows Conservation of Mass
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13. Your Predictions and Measurements
When you measured the dry mass of the sponge and Vermiculite, how accurate were your predictions?
Do you think conservation of mass applies to drying the sponge and Vermiculite?
Did the sponge and Vermiculite lose mass when you dried them out?
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14. Watering Your Plants
150 10
What is your prediction of the mass of the cup, soil, and plants after watering?
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15. Watering Your Plants Prediction that follows Conservation of Mass 160
150 10
Prediction that follows Conservation of Mass
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16. Final Discussion Questions
Look back at the questions you answered before starting this activity. Do you now have different answers to any of the questions?
Do you think that conservation of mass applied to all the changes that you measured? Why were the masses you measured before and after sometimes different?
You can see that the measured mass of something can vary a lot depending on how much water is in the system. How could we tell whether plants are gaining dry mass (not just water) when they grow?
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