When you take iron and sulphurs particles and add them up the change them into iron sulfide. Why does it still have the same amount of particles?
The reaction is probably: 2Fe(s) + 3S(s) -- Fe2S3(s) When you say amount of particles, that's imprecise. Do you mean number, mass, or what? I assume you mean number. I also wonder if by particles you mean atoms. Because there's no way you're going to end up with the same number of particles in that reaction. Let me expain: If this reaction involved molecules - separate particles - you definitely wouldn't end up with the same number of particles. For every five reactant particles you started out with, you would end up with one particle of product. BUT this is not a reaction involving molecules, it is a reaction involving ions. And ions aren't usually present as separate particles; they're present as a network solid - a chunk of ions all lined up together in an orderly matrix. The problem is that even if the chunk counts as one particle, you are STILL starting with two chunks and ending up with one. If the question is, why does it still have the same number of atoms, that's easy: because the atoms don't get created or destroyed during the reaction, they just get rearranged. If you look at the equation, there are two Fe's to start with and two at the end of the reaction as well - the only difference is that before the reaction happens, the Fe's are stuck together. and after the reaction, they're separated from each other and instead combined with S's. I hope this helps.
iron + sulfur--- iron sulfide Fe+ S--- FeS You begin with 1 mole of iron particles and chemically react them with 1 mole of sulfur particles and get 1 mole of iron sulfide You still have the same mass because mass is not created or destroyed in a chemical reaction.
