A lab group reacts sodium oxide (Na2O) with hydrochloric acid (HCl) to produce sodium chloride (NaCl) and water (H2O). When writing their lab report, they come up with the following equation to represent the reaction: Na2O + HCl -> NaCl + H2O Does this equation satisfy the Law of Conservation of Matter?

Law of conservation of matter states that matter in a chemical reaction matter produced on the product side must be equal to the matter present on the reactant side. As matter has to be transformed from one form to another.

Thus, in a chemical reaction number of reactants must be equal to the number of products.

The given equation is as follows.

[tex]Na_{2}O + HCl \rightarrow NaCl + H_{2}O[/tex]

Number of reactant atoms are as follows.

Na = 2
O = 1
H = 1
Cl = 1

Number of product atoms are as follows.

Na = 1
O = 1
H = 2
Cl = 1

Therefore, we can conclude that the above chemical equation is not balanced as the number of reactant atoms does not equal the number of product atoms. Hence, it does not satisfy the law of conservation of matter.