Which statement best describes balancing equations and the law of conservation of mass?

a. there are more atoms in the reactants than in the products, and the total mass is the same in the reactants and in the products.

b. the number of atoms is the same in the reactants and in the products, and the total mass is the same in the reactants and in the products.

c. there are fewer atoms in the reactants than in the products, and the total mass is less in the reactants than in the products.

d. there are more atoms in the reactants than in the products, and the total mass is higher in the reactants than in the products.

Its b because there has to be the same amount of atoms to balance it out kind of like a seesaw

2fe + 3h2so4 -> fe2(so4)3 + 3h2

it is necessary to balance equations in order to get the proper amount of reactants as well as products in order not to make a miscalculation.

you cannot change the subscripts as that would change the substance itself. for instance, diatomic elements such as h2 only have the subscript two when a gas. another example would be so4, if you were to change the subscript, the element would no longer be sulfate.

we change the coefficients instead as that only changes the number of molecules rather than the substance itself.

hope this !