Conservation Laws – What Happens to the Mass of a Burned Object in Combustion

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If I were to burn a pile of wood weighing a hundred kilograms and I would have a big sack hanging over the burning pile. In this sack I would catch all the smoke that came from the burning pile, if all the wood turned to ashes and I'd put this in the sack with smoke. Would the sack weigh a hundred kilograms or would it weigh less?

Is it the case that all the mass of the burning pile is converted in to ash and smoke and therefore weigh the same as the unburnt pile of wood? Or is it the case that because of $E=mc^2$ the burning pile emits energy and the mass of the pile is converted into the heat that a burning pile of wood gives and therefore takes away most of the mass?

Best Answer

You would have much more mass than 100 kg after the wood was burned. As it turns out, wood is made of cellulose and lignin. Both are cross-linked glucose polymers, so a good approximation of what you would get is given by the chemical reaction of burning glucose:

$$\rm C_6H_{12}O_6 + 6O_2 \to 6CO_2 + 6 H_2O$$

This means that 6 oxygen molecules combine with one glucose molecule when it is burned. The molar mass of the glucose molecule is 180 and the molar mass of the six oxygen molecules is 192. This means that when you burn 180 kg of glucose, 192 kg of oxygen take part in the chemical reaction, producing an equal mass of carbon dioxide and water vapor. At these ratios, when you burn the 100 kg of wood, you would collect 207 kg of carbon dioxide and water vapor.