Franklin was performing an experiment by combining hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide. He measured the mass of his reactant materials to be 35g. The reaction resulted in the production of salt and water. He reported that his products weighed 32g.

Which best describes the results of Franklin’s experiment?

a. No error occurred, some of the products are always lost as heat.

b. An error occurred, the mass of the reactants should equal the mass of the products.

c. An error occurred, the products should weigh more than the reactants.

d. No error occurred, water is not weighed when determining the weight of the products.

The best statement that describes the results of Franklin's experiment is that an error occurred, the mass of the reactants should equal the mass of the products. The correct option would, therefore, be B.

Recall the law of conservation of mass:

In this case, only salt and water were produced and both should remain in the reaction vessel. Hence, no mass should have been lost.

Definitely, an error must have occurred somewhere.

More on law of conservation of mass can be found here: link

Explanation:

The answer choices are:

The basis to answer this question is the law of conservation of mass.

Any chemical reaction satisfies the law of conservation of mass: mass cannot be either created nor destroyed, so, always, the mass of the reactants equal the mass of the products.

Thus, since he measured the mass of his reactant materials to be 35g and he reported that his products weighed 32g, his data are in clear contradiction of the law of conservation of mass. So, there is an error in his results: the mass of the reactants should equal the mass of the products.

i do not get it   at all